Suffolk County Girls Summer Lacrosse Finishes Up Fifth Successful Season

In five short years, the Suffolk County Girls Summer Lacrosse League has grown from a small league with eight teams to a county-wide celebration of girls athletics.

With nearly 50 teams taking part in this year's league, which concluded on Thursday night at the PAL Sports Complex in Holbrook, the league has started filling up months before the season begins.

"We went from starting small, word of mouth, and now we usually fill up and sell out our spots in May before we even start in July," said league director Chris Trombetta.

The league offers young girls a chance to learn the fundamentals of lacrosse and enjoy themselves without the pressure of travel programs and high school coaches. In fact, the league prohibits any select teams to participate.

"Most importantly, it gives the kids an opportunity to play," he said. "It’s for all kids. These are town teams. We don’t allow select or travel teams to play. We want any town team that’s looking to play and develop skills and foster a love for the game. That’s what it’s here for."

The league has divisions for each grade from second to sixth, and a combined divison for seventh and eighth grade girls. For the first time in five years, the oldest division saw a decrease in teams, as a number of middle school girls had advanced to play in varsity summer leagues at Dowling.

The league, which runs from just after the Fourth of July until the middle of August, also employs a number of current and former Sachem lacrosse girls as referees for the summer.

"We have high school and college girls that came through the Sachem program," he said. "It puts some money in their pocket. And us dads are here as volunteers."

Those volunteers help Trombetta with the everyday work that goes in to running such a large organization.

"PAL was great when I came to them with the idea," he said. "As long as it’s for the kids, they had no problem with it. We maintain it. We cut the fields, line the fields, put out the nets, turn off the lights, clean the bathrooms, all that stuff. It’s all done by a small group of people."

A former University of Delaware player, Trombetta noticed a large discrepancy between the number of boys and girls youth leagues. With two girls of his own, Katie and Cara, he took it upon himself to find a place for them to hone their skills at a young age.

"That was where I came up with the idea," he said. "Growing up in Stony Brook, as a boy, we always had summer league programs. It was either Smithtown YMCA or Suffolk County PAL. And when my girls were small, I knew there was really no opportunity for them unless we ventured to Nassau County. So I asked a bunch of coaches if they'd be interested in doing some sort of program, and the response was a big 'Yes.'"