Rocky Point Natives Help Northwestern Win Women's Lacrosse National Championship

Kara Mupo ran to Brianne LoManto as the clock expired at Stony Brook University.

The Rocky Point natives were only 13 miles away from home as Northwestern beat Maryland, 8-7, Sunday to win the Division I Women’s Lacrosse National Championship.

LoManto, a junior, was in net, while the freshman Mupo scored two goals. The other six goals came off the sticks of Long Island natives.

“It’s pretty unbelievable,” said Mupo, who was Inside Lacrosse’s top ranked recruit for the class of 2010.

LoManto made a slew of key saves late in the second half. Like Mupo, she was an All-American at Rocky Point where she played soccer and ran track. They were both part of four Suffolk County championship teams too.

“It came down to having that focus and being able to maintain it for 60 minutes,” said LoManto.

Northwestern (21-2) has won six of the last seven national championships, including one during LoManto’s freshman season. It was a feeling she hoped the younger players like Mupo could experience.

“You want them to experience what you’ve experienced,” she said. “We fought hard this year and were able to achieve it.”

After the game, Northwestern coach Kelly Amonte Hiller spoke about the clutch Long Island recruiting she’s had, and that extends beyond snatching her husband and volunteer assistant coach Scott Hiller off the island.

“Long Island is obviously a mecca of lacrosse,” she said. “The type of kid that comes out of here tends to like what we have to offer at Northwestern University. We hope to continue to do that.”

Among the other Long Island natives on the team is Shannon Smith from West Babylon, who scored four goals in the national title game, 505 goals in high school for a state record and is likely to win this year’s Tewaaraton Trophy as college lacrosse’s top player.

Next year the national championship returns to Stony Brook’s Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, where a young Wildcats squad certainly has the potential to return and uphold its dynasty status.

“The future is what we make of it,” said Mupo. “If we set goals for ourselves and work hard like this season, the future looks bright.”

Rocky Point Cleans Up at Division II

Rocky Point was well represented when the top-seeded women’s lacrosse team at Adelphi beat Limestone, 17-4, to capture the school’s third straight national title. Head coach Joe Spallina is a Rocky Point alum and former head coach at the school and his players Emily Mercier and Allison Stoudt are also from Rocky Point. The 13-goal win was the largest margin of victory in a Division II women’s national championship game.