Ava Malanga fires a shot on goal for Riverhead. (Credit: Robert O’Rourk)
One of the cruelties of this COVID-19 pandemic is that what might have been the greatest Riverhead girls lacrosse team ever never had a chance to prove itself. The 2020 Blue Waves, with so much to win, saw their season lost to the coronavirus, and with that sank so many hopes and dreams.
Riverhead had reached the Suffolk County Class A semifinals both in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, the Blue Waves came agonizingly close to what would have been their first county final before being edged by Middle Country, 9-8, in the semifinals.