Sayville girls lacrosse completes perfect season with state crown, 21-0 record

CORTLAND — Once the playoffs arrived for the Sayville girls lacrosse team, the opportunity for a perfect season was there for the taking.

After its state semifinal win, Sayville coach Gary Jensen said, “We haven’t played our best game yet.”

In the state Class C final, they may have.

Sayville had a perfect start on its way to securing a perfect season. The Golden Flashes' dominant first quarter led to a 15-7 victory over Jamesville-Dewitt at SUNY Cortland on Saturday. 

It also finalized Sayville's second 21-0 state championship season in the last three years. The Golden Flashes accomplished the same feat in 2024.

“I said to them this morning, ‘For the parting gift, I want to see you guys play like I see you in practice,’ ” Jensen said. “I get to watch these kids perform every single day, and they finally put together a great performance at the right time. It’s the perfect ending to a perfect season.”

Sayville started fast and instantly put pressure Jamesville-Dewitt, leading 6-0 after the first quarter.

“We kept saying, ‘Last one, best one,’ ” said Morgan Farrell, a senior who had two goals. “We knew we hadn’t hit our best performance yet, and this was our last game. We all knew this was the one, and we had to come out hot, and that’s exactly what we did.”

Dylan McNamara scored 56 seconds into the game, and Olivia Razzano added a finish to make it 2-0 with 9:19 remaining in the first quarter.

McNamara then got fancy. After catching a pass from Olivia DeSimone, McNamara spun and delivered a shovel shot into the back of the cage that brought the crowd to its feet. Sayville led 3-0 with 5:46 remaining in the first quarter.

“Olivia DeSimone has been feeding everyone this season,” McNamara said. “She has great vision, and she kind of just saw me. I was in traffic, I turned around, and I didn’t have an angle up top, so I dropped my hands and just fired one, and it went in. I was so excited.”

The Golden Flashes dominated on the opposite side of the field as well, turning defense into offense. With Sayville leading 4-0, Sophia Buffardi intercepted a pass and sprinted downfield on a fast break. She found McNamara, who dished it to Razzano for her second goal to extend the lead to 5-0 with three minutes left in the quarter.

To start the second quarter, DeSimone intercepted a pass. On the ensuing possession, Farrell got past a defender with a split dodge and scored to make it 7-0 just two minutes into the second quarter.

Sayville’s defense held steady. Buffardi added another caused turnover and scored a goal with 3:45 remaining in the second quarter. The Golden Flashes led 8-1 at halftime.

"We really worked so hard all season long to get here," Buffardi said, "and to finally cap it off perfectly is what we've really dreamed of."

Ella Parker scored two goals to open the third quarter for Jamesville Dewitt (19-3). Its deficit was trimmed to five.

Buffardi responded by slicing through the defense for another goal with 7:19 remaining in the third quarter. Just 1:10 later, Farrell added another tally and Sayville led 10-3.

“I think I was getting marked really hard at the beginning,” said Buffardi, who finished with four goals. “I give credit to all of my teammates for finding me, getting me open and finding my lanes. As a team, we just really focused on playing our best game possible. I’m so excited we did it.”

The Golden Flashes led 12-6 after three quarters and maintained the advantage the rest of the way.

As time ticked down, the celebration was on as the Golden Flashes captured their second state title in three years.

“It’s every little girl’s dream,” McNamara said. “I just feel so happy to be back here and win a state championship.”