Riverdale’s Carol Pouliot is The Post’s All-City girls lacrosse Coach of the Year. (Kendall Rodriguez)
Beach Channel completed one of the year’s best stories and Riverdale had one of the best seasons in program history.
Both teams got big lifts from its seniors when they needed it most. For Beach Channel, Cynithia Smalls, Tolagbe Olatunbosun and Viard Idalia all had a hand in the Dolphins’ comeback to claim their second straight PSAL title.
Riverdale senior Averi Barron nearly led a come-from-behind win of her own — the Falcons fell just short of advancing out of their first ever NYSAISAA semifinal.
Tottenville reached the PSAL final for the fourth straight season, but have lost the last three. Staten Island Academy claimed another AAIS regular-season title.
All-City girls lacrosse Player of the Year: Cynithia Smalls, Beach Channel
Smalls’ journey is well documented. She started playing lacrosse in seventh grade and helped jump start the Beach Channel program that now has back-to-back PSAL city championships under its belt. Both times Smalls, who will play at Division I Howard, sparked fourth-quarter comebacks in the final. She scored 51 goals and tallied 19 assists this year, an amazing feat considering she was either double teamed or fighting though a swarm of defenders to do so.
All-City girls lacrosse Coach of the Year: Carol Pouliot, Riverdale
Pouliot preached striving for new heights and her club reached them. The Falcons, who had just three seniors on their roster, had one of their finest seasons for a program rich in girls lacrosse history. Riverdale went 16-3, earned a share of the Ivy League title and was a goal away from reaching the NYSAISAA final in its first-ever semifinal appearance. The school had not won a playoff game until this season.
ALL-CITY FIRST TEAM
A Sydney Avis, Staten Island Academy
The senior has been one of the driving forces for the Staten Island Academy program the last few years. Avis possesses a great feel for the game and nose for the goal, which she found 46 times. She also had 16 assists and helped lead SIA to the AAIS regular-season title.
A Averi Barron, Riverdale
The Union-bound senior will go down as one of Riverdale’s greatest players and nearly put the program into uncharted waters. Barron scored 62 goals and 16 assists. She tallied four of Riverdale’s final six goals in a 14-13 NYSAISAA semifinal loss to Portledge.
D Whitney Brown, Beach Channel
The senior kicked it up a notch when her team needed it most. Brown got the Dolphins’ offense going in the PSAL final. She scored four goals and collected two assists to help Beach Channel claim its second straight city crown. Brown had 33 goals and 15 assists this season.
A Briana Calcagno, Staten Island Academy
The senior was the other half of Staten Island Academy’s lethal 1-2 scoring punch with Sydney Avis. Calcagno boasted 42 goals and nine assists this season and also took the majority of the team’s faceoffs. She scored four goals and had two assists in SIA’s SILL championship win over Tottenville.
D Mallory Cardillo, Tottenville
Tottenville coach John Cucuzza lauds the junior as one of the city’s top defenders. Cardillo can guard players with speed and size and has takeaway ability. She was one of the few players who could contain Beach Channel’s Cynithia Smalls. An ACL injury kept her out of the PSAL title game.
M Dana Coscia, Tottenville
While the Pirates featured plenty of talented players, there was no question who the leader was. The senior made her fourth straight trip to the PSAL final. She has superb stick skills and is an excellent feeder. Coscia scored 37 goals, had 13 assists in league play and was a tenacious defender.
M Jessica Dahldorf, Poly Prep
The athletic junior is one of the most skilled players in the city. The Poly Prep offense ran through her and she helped the Blue Devils be one of the elite teams in the Ivy League. Dahldorf is a balanced all-around player, who didn’t have much difference in her number of goals and assists.
M Mia Hopper, Riverdale
The junior was again one of the go-to players for Riverdale and its leading goal scorer this season with the graduation of Michelle Goodman. The extremely speedy Hopper tallied an amazing 71 goals and handed out 15 assists. She and Averi Barron played selflessly with each other.
A Megan Kane, Tottenville
The junior was a blur on the field, but her game wasn’t just speed. Kane possesses pinpoint accuracy on his shot and is an adept passer. She is one of the rare players with more assists (39) than goals (36) in league play. She and senior Dana Coscia formed one of the best scoring tandems in the city.
M Tolagbe Olatunbosun, Beach Channel
If Cynithia Smalls was the team’s flashy star than Olatunbosun is Beach Channel’s blue-collar worker. She did all the dirty work for coach Sam Innes’s club. The senior scored the game-tying goal in the PSAL championship win over Tottenville and had 32 goals and seven assists this season.
M Jackie Triggs, Fieldston
The senior is one of the Eagles’ most dynamic and versatile players and the person who their entire offense runs through. She is aggressive going to the net with an accurate shot, is also a superb feeder and tough to slow down once she gets going in the open field.
ALL-CITY HONORABLE MENTION
G Sydney Bryant, Fieldston
D Karisa Cernera, Staten Island Academy
A Emma Devlin, Mary Louis
M Eugena Edwards, Frederick Douglas Academy
A Melissa Harwood, Midwood
A Viard Idalia, Beach Channel
M Lauren Katen, Poly Prep
M Zoe Loveman, Riverdale
A Seung Gee Kim, Stuyvesant
M Zoe Michas, Riverdale
A JJ Mitchell, Fieldston
M Taylor O’Gara, Curtis
M Annie Pasternak, Trinity
M Sarah Quinn, St. Francis Prep
M Sam Schiff, Horace Mann