Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019: Girls lacrosse all-state team announced

   Leading off today: Two seniors and a junior have been selected players of the year on the second annual New York State Sportswriters Association girls lacrosse all-state team announced Tuesday.

   Kasey Choma, a six-year varsity player at Eastport-South Manor has been selected the large-school player of the year. The Notre Dame-bound senior midfielder scored 71 goals this spring, including a hat trick in the NYSPHSAA Class B title game to help edge Fayetteville-Manlius 9-7.

   The small-school co-players of the year are attacks: senior Caroline DeBellis of Cold Spring Harbor and junior Leah Holmes of Hackley School.

   DeBellis, who is headed to Duke in the fall, registered 74 goals and 19 assists to lead CSH to its second straight state NYSPHSAA Class C championship. She had nine goals and three assists on final four weekend.

   Holmes was the offensive force for Hackley's New York State Association of Independent Schools championship team, scoring 98 goals to bring her career total to 231 and adding 48 assists. She has already committed to Northwestern.

   The full all-state team is posted in our reference section.

   Late change: Angel Parker, a third-team all-state selection in girls Class AA basketball as a senior, has made a late switch and will play for Niagara University in the upcoming season.

   Parker had signed with Siena College last fall before requesting her release in May due to since-resolved health concerns.

   The 5-foot-6 guard averaged 13.5 points, seven assists and five steals per game for Cardinal O'Hara last season and repeated as the Monsignor Martin player of the year.

   Late change: After leading by just one point at the half, the Central girl overpowered Hudson Valley for a 73-53 victory in the championship game of the BCANY Summer Hoops Festival in Johnson City on Sunday.

   Jessica Cook (Cicero-North Syracuse) took over in the second half with 16 consecutive points, and Catie Cunningham (West Genesee) finished the game with 19. Amarah Streiff (Bishop Ludden) scored 14.

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   Suffolk came from seven points down in the final four minutes and captured the boys championship with a 80-72 win over Hudson Valley. Bryce Harris (Brentwood) led with 24 points while Pierce Prendergast (Bayport-Blue Point) chipped in with 15 in the win.

   Boys lacrosse: This feels an awful lot like a solution in search of a problem, but the big rules revision for the 2020 season will allow play to be restarted -- as long as a no-kidding requirement is met -- with a defensive player within

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five yards of the player in possession of the ball.

   Meeting last month, the National Federation of State High School Associations boys lacrosse committee decided that officials will no longer wait for defensive players to move five yards off the ball when restarting play. While offensive and defensive players are still required to move more than five yards away, defensive players within five yards can avoid a delay of game technical foul by allowing the player in possession of the ball a direct path to the goal and not defending that player until the player is five yards away from the defender.

   Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't see the value in the change. Its not as though we had meaningful delays on restarts in the past.

   In the only other notable change, the penalty for an illegal crosse is no longer a tiered penalty and is now a two-minute, non-releasable penalty regardless of the infraction.

   Ex-Sec. 9 standout killed: Former Marlboro football star Tanner Harshberger was killed Friday when his UTV collided with a Jeep Wrangler, according to the Town of Marlborough Police Department.

   Harshberger, 21, played running back, wide receiver and defensive back in addition to returning kicks. As a senior, he helped the Iron Dukes win a fifth straight Section 9 Class B title.