Perfection for the Sayville Golden Flashes Winning First Ever State Championship

Saturday, June 8th at SUNY Cortland will go down as a day for the ages for the Sayville Golden Flashes, as they capped off a perfect season (21-0) with a 9-5 win over Rye for their first ever Class C New York State Championship. Their path in the playoffs saw them defeat Westhampton in the county semifinals, Bayport in the county finals, Wantagh in the Long Island Championship and Our Lady of Mercy (Rochester) in the state semifinals before defeating Rye in the state championship game.

The game began with an evenly matched first quarter, as both teams scored two goals each. However, Sayville surged ahead in the second quarter, putting forth a dominant 12 minute period where they outscored Rye 5-0, with four of those goals scored by Sophia Buffardi, while on the other end, led by defenders Courtney Thornton, Delaney Lutz, Lucy Livingston and Loghan McNamara, along with Julia Lilienthal in goal, the Golden Flashes showed why their defense has been elite all season long, keeping Rye off the board in the second and allowing only two first half goals. In the third quarter, goals were at a premium for both teams, as Rye held a narrow 2-1 scoring edge which had Sayville leading 8-4 after three quarters of play. The fourth saw the two teams play an even quarter, each scoring one goal, and when the clock hit zero it was the Golden Flashes securing the victory by a final score of 9-5 to give them their very first state championship. Offensively, sophomore Sophia Buffardi was a huge standout player for Sayville, scoring an impressive five goals, while fellow sophomore Jenna Messina also contributed with a hat-trick, and freshman Dylan McNamara added a free-position goal. Sayville’s sophomore goalie, Julia Lilienthal, had an outstanding performance with seven saves and a save percentage of 58%, playing a crucial role in maintaining their lead. This year the Golden Flashes welcomed a new leader in charge of the program as Gary Jensen took over as head coach and guided what has been a very talented program the last few years over the hump and into the history books as 2024 New York Class C State Champions.