12th Ranked Long Beach Lady Marines Team Preview

As we climb up the ladder in our preseason top 20 teams we get to the Marines of Long Beach at No. 12. This is a team that was on the doorstep of appearing in the Class B Long Island Championship after being defeated in the waning moments of the county final against Garden City. That feeling is something that Head Coach Rachel Ray says her team has not forgotten. ” Losing in the County finals with 1.7 seconds remaining on the clock has not been forgotten. This group is ready to roll.”

The bulk of their team returns for the 2023 season, giving them an excellent chance to be the team that represents Nassau County in the Class B Long Island Championship. Offensively it starts with premier attacker and team captain Delaney Radin who enters her senior season and is bound for the University of Florida for her collegiate career. Radin has shown that she is truly one of one, leading Nassau County in total points with 123 and leading all of Long Island in assists with 61. She’s the initiator of the Long Beach offense and can orchestrate from anywhere on the field making her a matchup nightmare. One attacker playing alongside Radin is junior Keira Fontaine the Akron commit who is another key returner. Transitioning to the midfield this unit is as good as any team on Long Island. Ava Main the junior JMU commit is now in year four on varsity and had a sophomore season to remember. Main, another team captain came through with 28 goals and 22 assists for 50 points which was second on the team. Joining Main is Delaney Chernoff the talented sophomore. Chernoff finished last year with 23 goals and 19 assists but impacts the game in an array of ways whether it’s scoring, facilitating, controlling the draw, or making defensive plays. Senior Keira Bauer (Binghamton) made her presence known with 27 goals which was third on the team. Adding to their midfield is senior Nora Codianni (Fairleigh Dickinson) and junior Ella Timperio (Lynn). Defensively this unit will look different with the loss of some key 2022 graduates such as Cate Miller and Morgan McCaffrey, but this will pave the way for young guns like eighth grader Anala Teemer to be a difference maker who coach Ray says will make some noise this year. Returning to the defense as well are juniors Kaitlin Buonocore and Molly Duffy. As for the goaltending it will be the junior Emily Backlin (Binghamton) who will be getting the nod as the starting goalie after splitting time last season with Sarah Gusler. Playing part-time Backlin still managed to make nearly 60 saves in 2022. Looking at some of their other young guns, freshman Sky Kilfeather has left no doubt that she will be a household name throughout her high school career. As an eighth grader the lefty attacker did not shy away from the varsity stage and came up big with 22 goals and eight assist for 30 points and will only ascend over time. Freshman Sienna Warren could also see minutes at attack this season in her second year on varsity. The 2023 season will get started for Long Beach on March 22nd when they open with a non-league game against St. Dominic. Playing in the Power Conference means they play a number of high level opponents through the course of the season. Some of these games feature matchups against Garden City (4/3), Manhasset (4/19), Massapequa (4/25), Wantagh (4/27), South Side (5/5), and Cold Spring Harbor (5/8). Mixed in as well is a marquee non-league contest against Northport (4/8).[vc_video link=”https://vimeo.com/806197269″ el_width=”80″]