ESM girls lacrosse looking to prove the doubters wrong

“Prove them wrong.”

That’s the slogan this year’s Eastport-South Manor High School girls lacrosse team adopted after a lower-than-expected preseason ranking.

It’s a bad move to anger a shark, and this year’s squad is a dangerous combination of senior veterans and underclassmen that makes the Sharks a tough opponent for any team that faces them.

The preseason ranking provided the team with some extra incentive to make a return trip to the playoffs and a deeper run than last season when they lost to Smithtown West in the postseason.

Perennially one of Long Island’s top programs, the Sharks are 3-5 in games through April 18. They have seven regular-season games remaining, which leaves time to accumulate wins and make the playoffs.

“We’re trying to find our identity and we’re slowly finding it,” Sharks head coach Rebecca Thorn said.

The Sharks want to be known as a scrappy team that out-hustles opponents, plays as hard as it can, and has each other’s backs, said Thorn, who is in her 13th season at ESM and was a standout lacrosse player at Hofstra.

Under Thorn’s leadership, the Sharks have become one of Long Island’s top programs.

Thorn guided ESM to seven Suffolk Class B championships and state Class B championships in 2015 and 2019. More than 75 of her players have gone on to play at the college level.

This year’s team is predominantly ninth and 10th graders, with a handful of juniors and seniors in key roles.

Goalie Ashley Langdon, a Johns Hopkins commit, anchors a strong defense.

Amanda Sweeney, a Cincinnati commit; Caylin Luciano, a Florida commit; and Emma McLean, a Loyola Maryland commit, key the Sharks’ offense, which scored 27 goals during a three-game win streak against Center Moriches, Babylon and Miller Place. Sweeney leads the team with 16 goals in the first eight games.

Katelynn Murtha, a ninth-grader, is another of the Sharks’ stars on offense. Murtha has scored 11 goals.