Cold Spring Harbor girls lacrosse rallies to top South Jefferson and reach state final
Cold Spring Harbor girls lacrosse players rejoice after winning a semifinal against South Jefferson at the 2025 New York State Girls Lacrosse Championships at SUNY Cortland in Cortland, N.Y., on Friday. Credit: /Heather Ainsworth
CORTLAND — When the Cold Spring Harbor girls lacrosse team breaks down a huddle, its mantra gets shouted: “Together!”
It’s fitting.
Cold Spring Harbor trailed by four to Section III’s South Jefferson in the first quarter of the state Class D semifinal at SUNY Cortland, but the team answered together with 11 consecutive goals. When goalie Maya Soskin launched her gloves in the air, followed by her stick and helmet, her teammates swarmed her to celebrate together after the Seahawks defeated the Spartans, 12-5, Friday morning.
Cold Spring Harbor (18-3) advances to face Section X’s Canton (18-1) Saturday at 9 a.m. with an opportunity to repeat as state champions.
“Our motto is ‘Together.’ It goes so deep since kindergarten,” Soskin said. “We love each other so much, and we want to do it again.”
The Seahawks allowed four goals inside the game’s first nine minutes, but Olivia Mulada put them on the board by splitting two Spartan defenders to score with 17.5 seconds left in the first quarter. It was the first time since May 14 — against arguably the best team in the country in St. Anthony’s — that Cold Spring Harbor trailed after the game’s initial 12 minutes.
Maggie Spehr, who finished with four goals and an assist, made sure that deficit didn’t last.
Beginning with Spehr’s goal just over three minutes into the second quarter off a well-executed hitch-and-dodge, the senior followed it up with a feed to reward an excellent cut inside by Ruby Spielberger for a quick finish just 32 seconds later.
“The grit and hustle that we had coming out of that first quarter, it just shows so much about our team,” Spehr said.
Kelly Callaghan tied the score at 4 before Sienna Koke gave the Seahawks their first lead by winning a ground ball in front of the cage and wrangling a shot past South Jefferson’s Emma Vespa.
No goal spoke more to the team’s mantra than Ryan Reynolds' score to open the third quarter off a slick free-position feed from Spielberger, culminating one of Spehr’s three caused turnovers that launched the possession.
Michelle Coles caused two turnovers as Cold Spring Harbor held South Jefferson (19-2) scoreless in the second and third quarters. Soskin finished with seven saves.
“It was a lot of high pressure, and the energy and enthusiasm we had to chase after every single ground ball,” Coles said. “Maya having our back, making big saves, really pumped us up and got us excited to keep making stops.”
Despite losing the advantage on draw controls — South Jefferson won 16 to Cold Spring Harbor’s five — the Seahawks found a way to win together.
“That was the best fight I’ve ever seen us put up,” Soskin said. “I’m just so proud of us, and we’re ready to roll tomorrow.”
Michael Sicoli covers high school sports for Newsday. He graduated from Quinnipiac in 2022 and left with a master’s degree in sports journalism in 2023.
