Bayport-Blue Point field hockey's Madeline Clark, Lily LiPuma key Long Island Class C crown
Bayport-Blue Point poses for a photo after defeating Carle Place during the Long Island Class C girls field hockey championship game on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Garden City. Credit: Kelvin Loarca
A halftime deficit didn’t faze the Bayport-Blue Point field hockey team. Instead, it rallied to its second straight Long Island Class C title.
The Phantoms defeated Carle Place, 2-1, in a subregional final Tuesday evening at Adelphi. Madeline Clark scored the tying goal before Lily LiPuma netted the go-ahead score late in the third quarter.
“Since preseason, we’ve wanted this so badly,” Clark said. “It’s not even about the title for us. The title is cool, but we just love this team so much and we just want another practice together. That’s all we’re really playing for, more time together.”
Bayport-Blue Point (15-3) will advance to the Class C state semifinals, where it will face the winner of the Section IV/Section VI matchup on Nov. 14 at Arlington High School in Lagrangeville. Carle Place finished 9-7.
Though the Phantoms controlled much of the possession in the first half, it was Carle Place that found the goal first. In a scrum near the stroke line, Erin Morgan emerged and tipped the ball in to give the Frogs the lead halfway through the first quarter.
Bayport-Blue Point found its groove in the second half. Clark and LiPuma scored on consecutive penalty corners to give the Phantoms a 2-1 edge.
“At halftime, we just talked about who wants it more,” LiPuma said. “Like [Clark] said, we’ve wanted this since before the season even started and we just had to dig deep for that. We come to practice every day and we’re so close as a team that we have that kind of confidence in one another.”
Carle Place earned one penalty corner in the first quarter before Bayport-Blue Point effectively stifled any further opportunities.
“The saying ‘defense wins championships’ is so true because we can create any offense from our defense and our defense back there has been stellar all year,” Clark said. “They’ve been working so hard in practice — we all have — and that’s just the core of our team right there.”
When the Phantoms won their first ever Long Island Class C title last season, coach Karen Gick said she was most excited about spending more time with her team. Clark and LiPuma helped grant that wish once again.
“It’s been such a team effort this whole time and it’s not even about who scores the goals,” Gick said. “They just work so well together and the two of them have been playing together for years now. When we make the adjustments we need to, those two have so many opportunities to work off of each other.”
Tess Ferguson is a reporter on Newsday's high school sports staff. She joined the team after graduating with a journalism degree from Ithaca College in 2025.
