Former Women’s Lacrosse Championship Runner Ups Hope to Take the Win This Season

By Julianna Buscemi

The women’s lacrosse team, runner up in the 2015 Region XV Championship against Nassau Community College, is said to be a team to reckon with this upcoming spring season.

Barbara and Mia Johnson, twin sisters ages 21 who have played for the team since its first year of formation at the college, looked back on their years of playing as a Shark fondly. Both sisters played throughout their high school careers, and were excited to be attending a college that was forming a women’s lacrosse team as they were beginning their careers here in 2013. Barbara, still a student at Suffolk, proudly spoke of her former teammates saying that, “We got along better than most teams, because there were no cliques. We used our talent and worked together to sometimes surprise even ourselves with how well we did.”

The team surely surprised themselves all the way to the Region XV championship where they triumphed over Nassau Community College and were runner up. This has been the biggest success for the team thus far in its two years of existence. The team has greatly improved over time, as scores rose from a loss of 19-0 at Dean College, to a win of 15-14 at Nassau. According to Barbara, “We went against some talented schools but we worked just as hard as teams who have been together for years. And it started to show.”

Mia Johnson, now a transfer student at Farmingdale State College, didn’t hesitate to say that “If I could still play for Suffolk’s lacrosse team I would.” (Both the girls played for two years, the maximum time allowed for a community college). “We built a team and a bond that we didn’t see in others on the field. I think that is what got us to where we ended up at.” They both spoke fondly and respectfully of their former coach, now the former coach to Suffolk’s women’s lacrosse as a whole, as he transferred to a middle school on the island to coach lacrosse to younger students. The now head coach, Michelle MenDell, is “A great asset and leader to the girls who remain and who have just joined the team.”

Both Johnson sisters were in agreement that they had no doubts that the new team will take the college far, and they have high hopes that they not only make it to the 2016 Region XV Championships, but this year go home with the win. The first game of the 2016 spring season is March 1st at SUNY Farmingdale, and this year, there’s no doubt in everyone’s mind that the Sharks will be taking a big bite out of their opponents.