Antonison’s Goal Lifts Mineola Girls Lacrosse Into Playoffs

Erica Antonison had the playoff hopes of her entire team in her lacrosse stick Monday afternoon.

With less than two minutes remaining in the last game of the year, the Mineola defender took off racing down the backfield at Friends Academy, kicking up dust in her wake and took a shot at the Lady Quaker’s net.

It got through, and so will the Lady Mustangs to the playoffs this year with a 13-12 nail biter as they finish the regular season 6-8.

Mineola held a 10-5 lead in the first half of the game, five of them from Antonison. Friends mounted a huge comeback, scoring four by the 8 minute mark in the second quarter and only trailed by one before the half, 10-9.

About 17 minutes into the second half, Friends player Erica Sklar sustained a knee injury and had to be helped off the field.

As play resumed, so did Antonison, stopping Friends’ rise with a goal at the 5:43 mark, before Friends scored seconds later as the game reached the final five minutes.  Mineola’s Lacey Fater netted one with 4 minutes left to go, putting the Lady Mustangs up by two before Friends Academy knotted it at 12 two minutes later.

That’s when Antonison managed to grab the ball and take off getting her biggest shot of the day for the game winner.

Mineola managed to tighten their defense in the time left, preventing another comeback from Friends Academy.

“We had a couple of our players out sick today (Kalie Medlock and Jules Falotico), “ Mineola head coach Frank Massaro said, “but we pulled together and made the playoffs. We ran out of gas for awhile going into the second half, but we got it done.”

Antonison scored a career-high 7 goals, and Lacey Fater netter four. Goalkeeper Katie Dul had 13 saves, two of which were in the final 90 seconds of the game.