Kate Twomey, Oceanside defense make late stand to secure win over Carle Place
Oceanside celebrates after winning a Nassau Conference II girls lacrosse game against Carle Place in Carle Place on Thursday, April 30, 2026. Credit: Brittney Dietz
When the moment got big, the defense stepped up.
Madison Reedy had just scored her sixth goal to bring the Carle Place girls lacrosse team within one of Oceanside with 10.4 seconds remaining in regulation. The Frogs won the following draw and called a timeout, chalking up a plan with eight seconds on the clock.
When the game resumed, Oceanside goalkeeper Kate Twomey guided her defense to corral the ball to the sideline and force a turnover, and the Sailors did just that. When time expired, Oceanside had an 11-10 road win in Nassau II on Thursday.
“I knew all they needed was one goal, and eight seconds is more than enough time to do that,” Twomey said. “Mentally, I just have to keep myself in the present. I had to make sure I was talking to my defense and helping them force [Reedy] out.”
Twomey made seven saves to help keep Oceanside (5-8, 5-4) ahead, but the win wouldn’t have been possible without efficient offense. Sydney Abbott and Riley Kudlek scored three goals each to lead the Sailors.
After the score was knotted at 3 in the first quarter, a four-goal second quarter gave Oceanside a 7-4 halftime lead, a foundation that Kudlek said fueled her team’s momentum later in the game.
“Having that big quarter brought us up a lot and we started to work more as a team,” she said. “That way, when it got close in the second half, we still had that glue to fall back on and remember what we can do when we work together.”
Carle Place (5-6, 5-4) had a four-goal quarter of its own in the third and trailed 9-8 heading into the fourth. Ava Gomes added two goals and an assist to support Reedy’s lofty performance.
Oceanside coach Ralph Montera said he knew this was not a game his team would win with fewer than 10 goals. With the Frogs’ offensive prowess, Oceanside not only had to fire on all cylinders on offense but minimize Carle Place’s scorers on defense and capitalize on possession. Oceanside controlled 21 ground balls to Carle Place’s 13 to help do just that.
“Carle Place has superior talent offensively,” Montera said. “Their best players are going to score their goals; there’s only so much we can do about it. But we needed to make it tough for them and not give them anything easy. And we did that.
“We fought, and it was really a battle that could’ve gone either way, but it bounced in our direction.”
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.
