As we now get inside the top five teams in the LILJ top 24 preseason rankings, landing at number four are the Manhasset Indians of Nassau Class B. The last three years Manhasset has found themselves at the very least playing in the Long Island Championship game, and this season they hope to make it four straight years in the LIC.
Manhasset has an attack duo that over the past few years has been very difficult for oppositions to stop between seniors Mia LoPinto (USC) and Shea Panzik (Vanderbilt). Last year LoPinto led the team in total points with 55, scoring 25 goals and dishing out 30 assists. Panzik recorded 31 points of her own last season with 20 goals and 11 assists, and was overmatching opponents in the LILJ HSWL, finishing second in the league both points and goals with 36 points and 27 goals, guiding Manhasset to the championship in the AA bracket. In the senior class their attack also includes Washington & Lee commit Lara Baki. One of their underclassmen to look out for this season at attack is sophomore Harper Lambert who was pulled up last season as a freshman and struck for three goals against rival Garden City in the Lady Woodstock Classic.
Shifting to their midfield, Manhasset returns a deep midfield group that includes Lauren Perfetto (Loyola), Holly Newman (Cornell), Nicole Giannakopoulos (Harvard), Ava St. Jeanos (George Washington), Leyna Schlaefer (Hamilton), and Nicoletta Tsiamis (UChicago). Newman led Manhasset in points from the midfield with 33, followed by 18 from Perfetto. Two of their underclassmen who saw playing time this winter and may be in the fold to possibly see some minutes this season is sophomore Taylor Gordon and freshman Danielle Perfetto who each scored four goals in the winter league.
Defensively their top returning defenders are Madeleine Chun (Dartmouth), Alexia Giannakopoulos (UVA), and Cathryn Weigand (Sacred Heart), and in the net for Manhasset they will likely have three goalies on the roster in seniors Hannah Rubin and Jordyn Landman and sophomore Ruby Cacioppo who saw the most time in the net last season and already enters her third season on varsity.
Manhasset is in class C this year. Taylor Gordon was the third leading scorer on the team last season.