Women's Lacrosse

Syracuse benefits from Long Island recruits’ toughness, aggression

Long Island lacrosse was born in the 1930s, when Manhasset High School and Garden City High School built boys teams to pit against each other. That began the island’s ongoing connection with the sport.

Long Island has done nothing but produce quality lacrosse players since.

Long Island’s been one of the best hotbed areas for lacrosse, women’s and men’s, since I’ve been alive,” said Brett Queener, a professional lacrosse player and now a Syracuse volunteer assistant coach. “They’ve always been good, tough lacrosse players down there.”

Syracuse (1-1) currently has four Long Islanders on its roster: junior goaltender Alyssa Costantino, sophomore midfielder Loren Ziegler, sophomore attack Paige Savia and junior attack Alyssa Murray.

If you have multiple generations playing lacrosse, then you’re going to have a lot more experience within that coaching staff, within your club staff, within your team,” Queener said. “If you look at it, the best areas of lacrosse around the country, it’s been there the longest.”



Long Island lacrosse players have dominated New York state high school championships in recent years. Their talents have translated to the college level and into the professional ranks, making Long Island one of the best locations for college coaches to scout and recruit for their rosters.

In women’s lacrosse, 14.9 percent of the rosters of the top six teams consist of players from Long Island, including eight on the roster of defending champion Northwestern.

Eleven percent of the Orange’s women’s rosters since 2011 hail from Long Island.

We love to look at the Long Island kids and give them an opportunity,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “That’s one of our focus areas. It’s definitely a strong place to recruit and we look there for players, as we look all over the country for players.”

Murray led the NCAA in goals and points last season, and was pivotal in the Orange’s run to the national championship game in May, as was Costantino, the starting goalie. While the Orange may not have the quantity of Long Island players other programs may have, it has quality athletes.

One reason Long Island produces so many talented players, Gait said, is the way they’re grown.

They’ve got some great youth leagues that develop players, they have a ton of past players that are coaches and I think that helps,” Gait said. “They start young and they build up and they have very good competition. So with that system, (it) generally raises the level of play of the entire Island.”

After competing in the sport at a young age, Long Islanders have matured into high school state champions on many occasions.

A Long Island team has won three of the last four New York state Division-A titles. Garden City has won seven consecutive Division-B championships and 10 of the last 13. Shoreham-Wading River has been crowned Division-C victor five of the last six years.

Long Island girls, they have that toughness,” Costantino said. “They’re just really hard-working, tough players. So coaches like to see that kind of full-throttle play.”

Murray and Ziegler were both members of the Long Island Yellow Jackets, one of the region’s top club teams. The Yellow Jackets played the best players from other regions, so their games were more challenging than regular high school games.

Murray considered the Yellow Jackets an “accelerated version” of her high school team, since the club team consisted of Long Island’s best, and it was easier to play with teammates who were at a higher level. Long Island’s population and each town’s proximity to the next, Murray said, contribute to the competitiveness.

I think New York is such a huge state that in some areas, it’s not very popular and teams will wind up having to travel half an hour for their games, when on Long Island, you have to travel down the street and you’re at your opponent’s field,” Murray said.

Queener, a Major League Lacrosse five-year veteran, said the Long Islanders he’s played against generally had a high lacrosse IQ. They were around the game longer, Queener said, and regularly faced tougher competition, which better prepared them for big games.

Though Queener wouldn’t admit Long Island players were more competitive than he was, personally. But he would give them this much: Long Islanders are tough.

A lot of people really didn’t like the Yellow Jackets because we were so aggressive,” Ziegler said. “Maybe that’s why people say Long Island has really good competition, because we are that. That’s how we play.”





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