Wallkill’s girls’ varsity lacrosse team records a win in its debut

By Mike Zummo
Posted 4/5/23

Friday was a day of firsts for the Wallkill girls’ lacrosse team.

It was their first varsity game. They scored their first varsity goal, first varsity saves, even first in-game injury. But …

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Wallkill’s girls’ varsity lacrosse team records a win in its debut

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Friday was a day of firsts for the Wallkill girls’ lacrosse team.

It was their first varsity game. They scored their first varsity goal, first varsity saves, even first in-game injury. But nothing, not even the rain, could erase their smiles after they got what they were really after.

Their first varsity win, a 10-4 victory over the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks.

“It’s so exciting,” said Emma DiLemme, who scored the Panthers’ first ever goal over a minute in the game. “We were a JV team, and now we’re at varsity level and this was our first game. Overall, we’re just really happy now with how we played.”

DiLemme led the Panthers with four goals, but it was her unassisted goal just 1:23 into the game that gave the Panthers their first lead as a varsity program.

“It definitely relieved some tension,” DiLemme said. “I was feeling a lot better. I was more locked into the game, and I was focused. We were all excited and it just pumped us up.”

They didn’t give up that lead either, as goals by Grace Winchell and Abigail Martino scored to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead before Newburgh’s Anaya Camacho’s goal put the Goldbacks on the board.

Jazmin Medina was the only other Panther with more than one goal, as she registered two goals and one assist. The Panthers also got a goal at the end of the first half from Hallie Yerves, before she was forced to leave the game with an injury in the second quarter.

In addition to three more goals from DiLemme and one more from Medina, the Panthers got a goal from Abigail Martin.

“They worked hard to get to this point,” Wallkill coach Frank Croce said. “To beat a varsity-level team for their first game ever, it’s a great day. Even the rain couldn’t keep the smiles and the shine off their faces today.”

The offense may have shined on an otherwise rainy afternoon, but the Panthers’ defense was anchored by Neveah Jackson, who made over 10 saves.

After she gave up Camacho’s goal with 8:38 to go in the first half, she finished with over 10 saves, and her goalkeeping gave the Panthers an opportunity to build out a 5-1 lead. She gave up two goals to Newburgh’s Madison Foti in the second half that cut Wallkill’s lead to 7-3, and Michelle Prado added a goal for the Goldbacks with 51 seconds left.

“(Jackson) was the MVP of today,” Croce said. “I know we also had Emma with the hat trick, but I know it was at least 10-12 saves. She was great back behind goal today.”

The Panthers didn’t have much time to celebrate Friday’s win, as they were scheduled for a road game at New Paltz on Monday and another road game against the Minisink Valley Warriors on Thursday.

“We still have things to clean up,” Croce said. “We still have things to work on as we talked about. Next game is on Monday, so we take off (Saturday) and we prepare on Sunday for Monday’s game, and we just keep building from there.”