Yesterday afternoon, the girls’ lacrosse team opened the season with a dominant, 16-3 victory over Long Island Lutheran, the three-time defending PSAA Champions.

The Bears opened the scoring at the 18:11 mark when Morgan Ruggieri scored from a free position. LuHi responded with a pair of goals in the span of a minute to take a 2-1 edge with 12:29 remaining in the first half. From there, the Blue & White defense would allow Lutheran just one goal over the remainder of the game as Georgia Apazidis, Caroline Cho, Christy Eugene, Tiffany Akinyoade, and Emily Berger stood tall. Meanwhile, Ruggieri’s mercurial speed and Ava McCormick’s dominance on draws fueled a dynamic offense. The Bears notched the final four goals of the half thanks to a pair of scores from McCormick and Michelle Xuan to take a 5-2 lead into the break.

Ruggieri and McCormick kept the pressure on by scoring the first two goals of the second half to build a commanding 7-2 advantage. Lutheran pulled within 3-7 with 19:28 remaining, but that would prove to be their last gasp as the Brook reeled off the final nine goals of the game, highlighted by a run of three Ruggieri scores in 78 seconds, including one in which she managed to uncork a shot into the upper nylon while falling down.

The Manhattan College-bound Ruggieri scored a game-high 8 goals while McCormick (3), Xuan (3), Nikki Carlo (1), and Yasmin Tinaz (1) provided a balanced scoring attack. Mia Trama, Tinaz, and McCormick added assists.

The Bears are back in action on Saturday in a match-up vs. Poly Prep.

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