Landing at number seven in the LILJ top 24 preseason rankings are the Sacred Heart Spartans who are a perennial Parochial contender. The Spartans were in battle up until the very end last year in the CHSAA Championship against St. Anthony’s were they were narrowly defeated in an 8-7 game. This season they are back with almost their entire team, led by Head Coach Danielle Etrasco as they look to win a lot of games with a very competitive schedule against some of Nassau County’s top public schools, as well as their annual matchups against nationally ranked St. Anthony’s. Coach Etrasco expressed the excitement going into the season with their returning core.
“We are all very much looking forward to this year! We are returning the majority of the team, with a few shoes to fill in the line up. The girls are hungry and eager to make their mark in the national ranks, supported by a competitive schedule.”
Sacred Heart’s attack returns the trio of Elizabeth Darcy (Richmond), Sienna Prisco (Marist), and Colleen Thieke (Virgina tech), making this a very balanced and formidable attack unit. In the LILJ HSWL they were all part of what was a very prolific offense, with Thieke leading the attack with 15 points, followed by Darcy with 11, and Prisco with 10 through six games played.
At midfield their three starters of Charlotte Browne (Ohio State), Kaylee Fravert (USC), and Cady Flaherty (Virginia) form a supremely talented trio that stacks up with any starting midfield on the island. Browne is their primary draw taker while Fravert and Flaherty provide plenty of offense from all parts of the field and were the two leaders in points this winter with 17 from Fravert and 16 from Flaherty. Overall they have a very strong nucleus that will allow them to be very successful on the offensive side of the field, and this winter they demonstrated just how good this team can be with a 4-2 record and an average of nearly 12 goals per game.
Defensively the Spartans are led by two seniors in Boston College commit Kaitlyn Cole and Holy Cross commit Rosalie Haffner, their top two defenders on the team that provide immense value in the clearing game and their ability to shut down their opponent one-on-one. The starting goalie position appears to be up for grabs as they rotated the trio of junior Grace Didora, sophomore Ava Lamantia, and freshman Olivia Manago in the winter league.
