Ms. Ferry was appointed Shoreham-Wading River’s new director of health, physical education and athletics and plans to have a “boots on the ground approach” in the schools. She will replace former athletics director Eric Bramoff, who joined the district in July 2024. 

Ms. Ferry spent the last nine years as athletics director at Half Hollow Hills Central School District. There, she led athletic programs across four schools with more than 125 teams. She developed and mentored over 190 coaches while introducing new programs including unified sports, boys and girls bowling, and flag football. Her creation of a mandatory “Code of Conduct Night” promoted responsibility and community partnerships.

In her new role, student interest would dictate the development of new athletic programs. “When you talk about creating new opportunities for kids, you want to ensure that you’re providing as much opportunity with the knowledge that you don’t want to reduce participation in other athletics events,” she said. 

“For instance, if there is an opportunity to bring on flag football, we have to really look at the data of how many students want to participate, [and] how many are currently, especially on the girls’ side, participating in spring sports,” Ms. Ferry continued.

A survey to compile student interest in different new sports would help Ms. Ferry and district leadership decide whether to introduce new programs in the future. 

Before Half Hollow Hills, Ms. Ferry worked as director of health, physical education, nursing and athletics in the Port Jefferson School District from 2007 to 2016. She created a high school wellness physical education course in the district that incorporated modern fitness trends, and successfully built a lacrosse program from the community level to middle school and junior varsity teams.

“I feel like every program that you are part of in a school district that you’re creating is specific for that school district … the kids, instructional leaders and teachers,” Ms. Ferry said. Deciphering how best to utilize staff strengths is something she plans to continue at Shoreham-Wading River. 

Her coaching background includes head girls varsity field hockey coach from 2002 to 2007 and head junior varsity girls lacrosse coach from 1999 to 2006 at Northport High School. She also held collegiate coaching positions at SUNY Cortland and roles with the Long Island Region of the Empire State Games and the United States Field Hockey Association.

“Success is not about wins and losses,” Ms. Ferry said. What she finds most important is that students are in a healthy, safe environment where they can learn to be competitive and how to lose with dignity when the occasions arise. 

The athletic field and physical education courses are places where students develop their social skills and learn things about themselves, Ms. Ferry said. 

“Part of my biggest responsibility is to ensure that … we’re hiring good coaches, great coaches, who are creating those values in their own program,” she said. “And it’s up to me to provide them the resources they need to move forward with those values.”

Ms. Ferry also currently serves as second vice president of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA), an eight-year term that will run through 2032. She previously held the position of Section XI female representative to NYSPHSAA from 2015 to 2023 and served as president of Section XI, where she helped shape state athletic policy. 

She earned a master’s degree in school administration and supervision from Touro College in 2006 and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physical education K-12 from SUNY Cortland in 1993 and 1995, respectively. She holds school district administrator and school administrator/supervisor certifications, in addition to an athletic administrator certification from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, which she received in 2010.

“We are pleased to welcome Ms. Ferry to the Shoreham-Wading River Central School District,” superintendent of schools Gerard Poole said in a press release. “With her combination of administrative expertise, teaching background and hands-on athletic experience, she is positioned to enhance our district’s integrated approach to student health, physical education and athletics.”

Shoreham-Wading River’s involved school community is something Ms. Ferry is eager to become acquainted with in her new role. 

“I have no desire to go outside of my world of phys ed, health and athletics,” she said. “I think that it’s a good fit for me. It’s my passion and it’s my love. And I love to be able to provide kids the opportunity to do something that they love and it’s very rewarding to be part of that.”

The post New athletic director Ferry to lead SWR wildcat pack appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

“My parents’ main idea was to get me and my brother into every sport imaginable and see what would stick,” Kershis said. “But there was something about lacrosse that just stood out to me. The sport is amazing. Playing the game on the front foot, the hand-eye coordination, running full speed. It was similar to playing tag, using juke moves and stuff. I just wanted to get better at it; whether it be catching the ball, shooting the ball, moving without the ball, or making the right pass.”

That passion for the game only grew as he got older and, by his junior year, Kershis developed into one of the highest-rated recruits in the country. He was recently named to the New Balance Senior All-America game — just a cherry on top of his illustrious high school career. But before he became the face of Shoreham-Wading River lacrosse and a Duke University commit, Kershis was just a regular kid playing on his dad’s lacrosse team, the Long Island Long Boards, which consisted of players from Shoreham-Wading River and Riverhead.

“We were just having fun and I wasn’t really taking lacrosse serious until I got scouted by Legacy Lacrosse in fourth grade,” Kershis said. “They asked my dad if I would try out for Legacy, which was a really good team in our age group. I ended up making the team and my lacrosse career kind of took off from there.”

Lacrosse dominated his life. Kershis was constantly away playing in tournaments all over the East Coast, playing with the best of the best. It became more than just a game. He became obsessed with trying to improve and spent hours upon hours perfecting his game. The results speak for themselves. Kershis remembers that even as early as his freshman year, college scouts were watching his games. They couldn’t contact him at the time because of NCAA rules, but they were there.

“The scouts were off to the side, usually on some kind of beach chair with a clipboard,” Kershis remembers. “They wore gear from the university they were from and they just seemed to always show up when I was playing.”

Those scouts saw something in him from an early age. Kershis was different. He didn’t have that typical arrogance most top athletes do. He was a humble kid who kept his head down and worked as hard as he could.

“The highest honor you can get is to be called a good teammate,” Kershis said. “I never tried to force goals. An assist still got a goal on the board. I tried to always let the game come to me. It just comes down to effort and hard work. I just tried to always outwork the person in front of me.”

Kershis was a force to be reckoned with on the varsity lacrosse team at Shoreham-Wading River even as a small-framed, wide-eyed freshman. He scored 35 goals that year to go along with his 20 assists and his production level only increased. His sophomore season he netted 45 goals with 35 assists. He ramped that total up to 59 goals and 38 assists in his junior season, leading the Wildcats to a Suffolk County championship.

“Over the years I’ve seen Liam grow into a confident and mature young man who leads by example both on and off the field,” SWR head coach Mike Taylor said. “His commitment to his teammates, his relentless work ethic and his positive attitude have made him a cornerstone of our program.”

Being able to play in college was always Kershis’ ultimate goal and there was one team, even as a kid, that stood out among the rest.

“It was always a dream of mine to play for Duke since I was a little kid,” Kershis said.“They were always one of the best teams so naturally as a kid you gravitate toward them. They always had the best players so I wanted to be able to call myself one of the best.”

Collegiate offers poured in by the bunches. Kershis estimates he had scholarship offers from more than 30 schools. He earned scholarships from the all of lacrosse hierarchy, including the University of Notre Dame, the University of North Carolina, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland. But even after going on visits to those schools, Duke was always in the back of his mind.

“I just felt the most comfortable there,” Kershis said. “Those schools are amazing but they just didn’t compare to Duke in my eyes. Duke had the total package. The campus was nothing like I’ve ever seen. I love all the coaches, the players, it’s got such a social atmosphere. I visited the campus many times and I could really picture myself wearing the Blue Devils uniform.” With his commitment in tow, Kershis set his eyes on hoisting a state title in his final year as a Wildcat. It would have been a perfect ending to his high school career. Unfortunately, a late penalty in the Suffolk County championship was called when a SWR player reentered the game too early after injury, which ultimately derailed a comeback bid against Bayport-Blue Point as the Wildcats lost, 9-8. They had a chance to tie before the referees deemed a change of possession. At that point, when the final seconds ticked off, Kershis thought he had played his last high school game — that was until he got a call shortly after the season.

“I was told that I’m going to be part of the Senior All-American game,” Kershis said. “I knew I was going to be one of the players considered but I’ve got to be honest, I felt like I had a pretty down year in my opinion and I didn’t expect to be called.”

A committee made up of the nation’s most knowledgeable figures in high school lacrosse sat down and decided on the top 44 seniors in the country. It was clear from his production level that Kershis deserved to be there. His play at Homewood Field on the Johns Hopkins campus Saturday proved he belonged. He scored two goals, one of which he whipped by the goalkeeper backhanded, and assisted on four other goals as he propelled Team North to a 16-15 victory. He was named the MVP after it was all said and done.

“While earning the MVP in such a prestigious game is always a significant achievement I can’t say I am entirely surprised,” said Taylor, who coached an underclassman team in another All-American event last weekend. “Liam demonstrated exceptional skill, work ethic and skill throughout his time with us. His dedication to improving and his ability to rise to the occasion always made him a standout player.”

“It’s supposed to be a fun game,” Kershis said. “But when we fell behind early, we all started to play harder. I was getting on our team a little bit saying we had to pick it up. And honestly, I’m a super competitive guy. I don’t have it in me to take it easy. The game is just more fun when we’re in a competitive environment.”

Not a bad way to end a high school career. It became the perfect segue into his college years. Kershis got a chance to play with some of his future teammates in Ben McCarthy, Nikolas Menendez and Nolen Connor at the All-American game — simply a taste of what’s to come in his upcoming years at Duke.

“I expect everyone in college to just be on another level,” Kershis said. “It’s not the best recruits in the country anymore. It’s the best players in the country, period.”

Once he dons that Blue Devil uniform for the first time, it will truly be a dream come true.

The post SWR lax star Kershis earns national MVP honors appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

Their son, Andrew, would have graduated with this class. Instead, the 12-year-old was taken from them when he was killed by a drunk driver while hiking in Calverton with his Boy Scout troop in 2018.

“We said this from the beginning that we were not going to let anything else be taken from us,” Ms. McMorris said this week. “So my husband, myself and my daughter, Arianna, went to every [school] concert. We all still served. My husband was still an assistant Scout Master and I still served on volunteer boards at the high school.”

She said her family attended “any concert that Andrew would have been in, the school plays, the Honor Society, the graduations — anything where he would have been, we went and showed up for the kids.”

Ms. McMorris said last week’s deeply emotional graduation ceremony — at which the school presented the McMorris family with Andrew’s diploma — was “the culmination of all of us carrying this together.” Heading to the podium to collect their son’s diploma, the McMorris family was nervous, she said.

“My husband’s holding Andrew’s [graduation] cap with a [memorial] pin,” she said. “I’m holding his picture and my daughter’s going up with one free hand so she can grab his diploma.

“As we walked up there it just started to rain, and there was this collective wave in the stadium, where everybody just stood up almost instantaneously with a thundering [applause] and there was this moment where we just burst into tears and felt the love of our community and the rain like tears of sadness. And then, as quickly as it started, it stopped, and it held off just until the end of the ceremony. You couldn’t have planned it like that if you wanted to.”

The family also participated in the annual senior ritual of school pictures.

“We went to the place where the kids were getting their pictures for cap and gown. We got our number, just like everybody else getting their senior picture taken.

“We went in with a picture of him and a [graduation] cap, and that’s his graduation picture.”

Ms. McMorris said Andrew’s friends and classmates rallied around the family, and the family stayed close to them throughout their high school years.

“From the moment Andrew passed away, they embraced me.”

The feeling was mutual.

“I remember going back to the school the week after the funeral, because I didn’t want them to be afraid of me.”

The first time she’d walked into a local store after her son’s death, “people looked at me and looked away and there was this, like awkward silence. I knew I couldn’t live my life like this, and I said that ‘we’re going to learn how to grieve together.’”

For years now, she’s watched the children who grew up with her son mature into teenagers.

This spring, Ms. McMorris was in Albany with the Shoreham-Wading River AP government class, advocating for state lawmakers to a lower the BAC threshold for drunk driving from .08 to .05.

“It was at that moment that I saw these young kids turn into adults,” she said, “And say things like, ‘we’re voting now and we want to see change, we want to be the generation that ends this.’”

Ms. McMorris visits the crash scene once a month to keep the area clean, “make sure the cross is good, and I refresh the bow and usually lay some baby’s breath, because that’s a sacred place to me.”

She said her son had longed dreamed of flying planes and early on he declared it his aim to get his pilot’s license before his driver’s license.

Having completed a flight camp program that satisfies the requirements for the Boy Scout Aviation Merit Badge, Andrew set his sights on flight school.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida was Andrew’s  “goal school.”   

“Probably a few weeks before he had passed away, he went on the [Embry-Riddle] website to get information from the school, and it arrived in a big yellow envelope on Oct. 1, 2018, which is the day he died.

“We had this big envelope and we had to laugh because we said ‘what 12-year-old applies to college to get an application? Who does that?’

“My son,” she said.

Six months after his passing, his family formed The Andrew McMorris Foundation to keep his legacy alive through fundraising, scholarships, and advocacy.

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“We don’t have that one person that can just take over their roles,” SWR head coach Alex Fehmel said. “We have to do it collectively as a unit. We don’t have that go-to player like GraceAnn or Abby … I think we have to kind of change our style to play together and include more people for us to be successful.”

Following two straight losses to start the season, the Wildcats finally got a peek of that togetherness in their 14-7 win against Kings Park at home Tuesday afternoon. With the rain pouring down, the Wildcats showed their dominance from the opening draw control.

Just over a minute into the game Reese Marcario found a streaking Madison Herr for the opening goal. Four minutes later the duo would connect on a goal again to make the score 4-0. Herr would go on to score four goals in the victory and Marcario assisted on three of them. Marcario and Herr could be the makings of another strong duo. Herr has already scored seven goals this season as a freshman.

“We really work well together on the field,” Herr said. “We have a strong two-man game and always seem to find each other. We have really quick feet and fast so it’s like we compliment each other.”

“We’re really good friends,” Marcario added. “We spend a lot of time with each other and it’s easy to communicate on the field. It’s all about timing and we’re pretty good at knowing where the other person is at all times.”

Marcario scored two goals of her own as well as Kings Park never really threatened to get back into the game after the Wildcats took a commanding lead. Shoreham-Wading River shared the love and got goals from Grayce Kitchen, Haylie Abrams, Kady Keegan, Sophia Minnion, and Charlotte Erb over the course of the game. They led by as much as nine goals late in the third quarter. 

“I think today was very good for us after our past two losses,” Fehmel said. “We were able to adapt to what we have been trying to do this season in this game. We came together and played as one and that’s why we won today.”

The two losses against Bayport-Blue Point and Islip were a learning experience for the Wildcats. Bayport-Blue Point went undefeated in the regular season last year and ended up knocking Shoreham-Wading River out of the playoffs. Islip played to a record of 12-4 last year and also made the playoffs. So even though the Wildcats started 0-2, they played top-of-the-line competition. 

“I’m glad we got those games early in the season,” Fehmel said. “We got the opportunity to learn from our mistakes. It’s obviously not the way we wanted our season to start off but there’s so many positives we can also take away from games like that. I feel like we came out a little flat against Islip. I was really proud of the way we played against Bayport-Blue Point. I actually felt more confident with our game after that loss. We just need to make in-game adjustments better, make the right choices and limit our unforced errors.”

The Wildcats (1-2 Division II) will try to build on this win and take it into Friday when they host Westhampton (2-0 Division II) at 4:45 p.m.

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Head coach Mike Taylor has worked with this group of seniors since second grade — his son, Liam Taylor, is on the team — so it’s been a steady grind that will hopefully produce a fruitful return.

The Wildcats will be without a few key players who carried the load last year, but most of the team returns, and experienced seniors are scattered up and down the lineup. Alec Gregorek, who now plays for the U.S. Naval Academy, will be the hardest to replace after having an incredible season last year, scoring a Long Island-best 70 goals. 

“You can’t just replace Alec,” Taylor said. “You take three to four people and try to get the same out of them. You hope some guys step up and take some chunks out of the 100 or so points he scored last year. A lot of it is going to fall on Liam Kershis.”

Kershis, a five-star recruit heading to Duke University in the fall, has already been named a preseason All-American after scoring 59 goals and assisting on 38 others during his junior campaign. 

“We lose key guys every year,” Kershis said. “But we always have new talent coming up. And I’m confident that this team has what it takes. One thing that’s different this year is that we truly have the hunger to win. We’re coming for that state championship. We’ve got playoff wins under our belt, we’ve got a Suffolk County championship, but we don’t have a state championship. We’ve been wanting to win one since we were water boys on the team in fourth grade.”

Bill Landon photos

Shoreham-Wading River hasn’t won the state title since 2019, which featured a young Alec Gregorek manning the attack. Things could come full circle this year as there’s another young Gregorek in the starting lineup — Noah. The 8th-grader has been carving up defenses his entire life. The last of the Gregoreks, who have now sent five children through the SWR lacrosse program and on to prestigious colleges, Noah will play alongside his brother and senior captain Liam, who scored three of the Wildcats’ six goals from his midfield position in last year’s Long Island championship game. 

“We have some young bulls on the team,” Liam Gregorek said. “We’re trying to keep them leashed but the talent level is obvious. They’ve learned from the best.”

“I remember Noah in diapers at our practice attempting over the back goals on the sidelines,” coach Taylor said. “That’s how special that kid is. He’s had a lacrosse stick in his hands from birth.”

Sophomore Andrew Cimino will fill the final attacking spot vacated by Steven Cain, who is at Marist University this season.

“We’re young up front,” Taylor said. “But having Kershis there should help them settle in. They’re incredibly talented but just need someone to help guide their decision-making sometimes.”

The rest of the starting lineup is all seniors with collegiate commitments — a tremendous asset for any team striving for a title. Alex Kershis (Navy), Ryan Wilson (Siena) and Liam Gregorek (Johns Hopkins) will run the show from the midfield. Each of them garnered tremendous playing time last year and came up with plenty of assists, goals and loose balls. Seniors Liam Taylor (Bryant), Daniel Greene (Rochester) and Kieran Clifford (Pace) round out a defense that seemed to really start clicking toward the end of last season. Jaden Galfano (Fairfield University) looks to build on a tremendous junior season in goal. Galfano saved 200 shots last year with a 60% save percentage.

“We have unfinished business this year,” Galfano said. “We’re not OK with how our season ended last year and we intend on making it to the states. The target is on our back and that’s fine. We like it that way.”

The Wildcats will open their season March 25 when they host Rocky Point at 4:45 p.m.

“We don’t have to win every game,” coach Taylor said. “What we have to do is get better every week and be playing our best lacrosse once playoffs come around. There’s a lot of similarities this year to our 2019 team. It’s just going to be a matter of how this team comes together.”

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The team that handed Shoreham-Wading River their only league loss of the season came out on top again, emerging with a 48-41 victory and essentially eliminating any shot for the Wildcats to win the league. 

“I think in both games we beat ourselves,” said SWR head coach Adam Lievre. “I would say this game was a carbon copy of our first game. Bad start. Unforced turnovers. Sloppy play. Got going for a few minutes. And then got back to our ways again.”

Mt. Sinai (8-0 League VI, 11-4 overall) jetted out to a scorching start, taking a 12-1 lead with three minutes remaining in the first quarter. The Wildcats had trouble getting a full offensive attack together, committing turnovers and allowing the Mustangs to pull away slightly. 

The second quarter featured a whole new Shoreham-Wading River team, with senior captain Juliana Mahan leading the way. Mahan scored the first four points of the quarter in less than a minute and ended the quarter with nine points to bring the game into half, tied at 22-22.

1 | 5

Shoreham Wading River sophomore Kady Keegan lays up for two for the Wildcats. (photo credit Bill Landon) Shoreham Wading River junior Grayce Kitchen shoots from the corner. (photo credit Bill Landon) Shoreham Wading River junior Alyssa Bell shoots from the baseline. ((photo credit Bill Landon) Shoreham Wading River senior Juliana Mahan fights for the rebound. (photo credit Bill Landon) Shoreham Wading River senior Juliana Mahan fights her way to the rim between two defenders. (photo credit Bill Landon)

“Jules is the biggest advantage we have over the other teams we play, so we need to get her the ball,” Lievre said. “When she’s open we want to feed her. Sometimes I think we don’t give it to her when she’s open and sometimes we force it to her when she’s not open. At the end of the day, we just need to make better decisions with the ball.”

The Wildcats tried to feature more of Mahan in the second half but many of the passes inside got deflected and turned into fastbreak points the other way. Mt. Sinai got ahead by as much as nine points before Shoreham-Wading River (6-2, 10-6) started to chip away again. 

With big buckets by Mahan, Ashley Bell and Kady Keegan, the Wildcats tied it up again at 38-38 with just five minutes left to play. The momentum looked like it had finally shifted back in favor of the home team. But in the end, the turnovers left little chance to come away with the victory. Mahan finished with 15 points, Bell added 13 and Keegan came away with eight. Mahan also had four blocks on the day and corralled 16 rebounds.

“We’ve got to have better composure especially at the end of the game,” Lievre said. “We need to make better decisions with the ball. I think we put ourselves in the right spots but just didn’t make the right decisions. Hasn’t happened a lot when we’ve been winning the last six weeks but for whatever reason, against Mt. Sinai it reared its head.”

Mahan has been on an absolute tear during the Wildcats’ five game winning streak between the two Mt. Sinai games. Against Bayport-Blue Point (4-3, 8-5) last Thursday, the senior put up a season-high 35 points in the 69-63 overtime victory. She’s averaged 16.2 points over the course of the season.

Shoreham-Wading River’s final game of the season will be Feb. 15, then playoffs will start. That’s when Lievre wants the best version of his team to show up.

 “Tonight would have given us a chance at a league title or at least given us a higher seed come playoff time,” Lievre said. “But it is what it is at this point. We’re going to do our best the next four games and try to get as high of a seed as possible and then, once the playoffs start, anything goes. You only have the opponent in front of you.”

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On senior night at Miller Place High School, it was two Shoreham-Wading River seniors who stole the show. With GraceAnn Leonard and Sophie Costello leading the way, the Wildcats took care of business and defeated Miller Place on Monday, 65-20.

With the playoffs on the horizon and the Wildcats beating most of their opponents handily, Shoreham-Wading River head coach Adam Lievre has been resting his starters and allowing his bench to get much needed playing time. There’s no need to risk injury in games that don’t mean that much. But basketball is a game of rhythm so the starters still need to get their minutes.

Costello and Leonard caused havoc on the defensive end and forced Miller Place to commit turnovers pretty much every possession down the floor. The first play of the game, Miller Place won the tip-off but Costello swooped in, ripped through and slapped the ball away for a steal and scored an easy basket at the other end. The duo combined for 10 steals in limited playing time. Leonard scored 16 points to lead Shoreham-Wading River. Many of those points were easy layups.

“Our defense is definitely our strongest point,” Leonard said. “We get most of our points in transition. We’ve been playing this defense for years now so we all know our spots and how to get steals and work together.” 

Shoreham-Wading River (11-0 Division IV, 18-0 overall) was so dominant, they got ahead 23-0 in the first quarter before Lievre decided to pull the starters. Miller Place (1-10 Division IV, 1-16 overall) had a hard time scoring, even against the second unit. 

“We start off strong so we can put the game away,” Leonard said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. The more playing time we can get for the girls on the bench, the better it is for us. It’s important to get everyone playing time because you never know if we get an injury in the playoffs, we will need one of those girls to step up in our place.”

They may be on the bench for the Wildcats but a lot of those girls would be starters elsewhere. Practices are intense.

“This is the deepest team I’ve had in my 20 years of coaching,” Lievre said. “They challenge each other in practice. The second team beat our first team the other day. We’re really solid, one through 14.”

With only two games remaining in the season, Lievre is encouraging the girls to stay the course and continue getting better.

“We’re just trying to keep the momentum going,” Lievre said. “We’re 18-0. We have to keep our play up. We don’t want to have a drop off. We want to play with the same intensity no matter who we’re playing.”

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Just waiting. 

Ms. Szymanski, 40, is patiently awaiting a match for a heart and liver transplant.

“It could be any day — I could get a call in five minutes, or it could be a week, a month or a couple of months,” she said in an interview Tuesday morning. “There really is no crystal ball.”

The waiting is something that Ms. Szymanski, who teaches special education at Mattituck High School, is accustomed to. She’s been on leave from teaching since mid-September after an appointment with her cardiologist revealed dangerously low potassium and kidney levels.

The results are related to a rare congenital heart condition Ms. Szymanski has had since birth: Pulmonary Atresia, Tricuspid Atresia and Transposition of the Great Vessels, meaning she was born with a three-chambered heart with no right ventricle.

She underwent her first open heart surgery at 30 hours old as doctors structured her heart to work without a right ventricle.

Since then, she’s had multiple heart surgeries and hundreds of other procedures to correct the condition. The benefits of the operations lasted until 2016, when she experienced two embolisms in her aorta that resulted in another open heart surgery to revise her previous heart operation from early childhood to a modern version in what’s known as an extracardiac Fontan procedure.

Under the care of Dr. Marlon Rosenbaum, Ms. Szymanski was told that it was possible and even likely that as a Fontan patient, her heart would shunt blood in a way that damages her liver, ultimately leading to cirrhosis.

“It was a conversation we’ve had before, so it wasn’t a surprise that a transplant was mentioned,” she explained.

In September, the evaluation process began to accept Ms. Szymanski as a transplant candidate.  

“Dr. Rosenbaum stood up and advocated for me and really fought to give me this opportunity at a second chance,” she said, adding that she got the good news and was listed on the transplant list on Oct. 15.

In phone calls, FaceTimes and text messages to family and friends, Ms. Szymanski repeated the three words her doctor shared: “It’s a yes.”

Now, as she waits for the lifesaving transplant, Ms. Szymanski is sharing her story as a way to spread awareness about organ donation.

According to LiveOnNY, a federally designated organ procurement organization for the New York metro region, there are nearly 9,000 people statewide waiting for a lifesaving transplant. Nationally, that number is approximately 100,000. In New York, anyone over the age of 16 can register as an organ, eye and tissue donor.

“It’s as simple as putting a little heart on your license,” Ms. Szymanski said. “[Most people] don’t think about being an organ donor … but it’s so imperative. Although it’s unfortunate that people have to pass away, it’s amazing what the medical world can do. It allows people to have a second chance. And that person gets to live not just for themselves, but for the donor.” 

Though living-donor transplants can typically be performed for livers, Ms. Szymanski’s case requires both organs to come from the same person. She said the donation may come from as far as 3,000 miles away in the United States and Puerto Rico. And though her name has popped up several times as a potential match, there are a slew of other factors that need to align for the operation to be a success.

In the meantime, Ms. Szymanski is keeping busy resting, reading, doing puzzles, binge-watching her favorite Netflix shows. She’s also following her doctor’s orders and trying to eat and gain weight to remain strong and stay active by walking, which will aid in her recovery process. Though she can’t leave her hospital floor, she’s been tracking 2.5 to 3 miles each day.

Ms. Szymanski’s support network, including family, friends and community members, have also pulled together to raise money to support her throughout the process.

An online fundraiser was organized by Melanie Unterstein, a longtime friend of Ms. Szymanski’s since their middle school days growing up in Shoreham-Wading River.

After launching the GoFundMe page on Sunday, Nov. 20, donors raised more than $47,415 toward of the initial goal set at $50,000.

The funds will help Ms. Szymanski with medical expenses that aren’t covered by insurance, including post-transplant medications, hospital transportation due to the frequency of visits after surgery, rehabilitation and cardiac therapy.

Monies raised will also help her family members remain close by as she recovers under the care of her medical team at NewYork-Presbyterian.

“She never asks for anything,” Ms. Unterstein said, adding that she was overwhelmed by the response the fundraiser has had. “She’s the strongest person I know. She’s been sitting in a hospital room for two months now, just waiting — and thinking of everyone else, too. I call her and she cheers me up.”

Ms. Szymanski said she’s incredibly thankful for the support she’s received. “It just means a lot to me. I’m seeing names pop up that I knew from elementary school or high school and even people in my community I didn’t know well,” she said. “When life gets hard and you’re facing extremely difficult challenges, the good side of people always comes out.”

More information

To make a donation toward Ms. Szymanski’s recovery journey, visit the GoFundMe page here.

Residents of New York ages 16 and older can register to be organ donors by joining the New York State Donate Life Registry. Click here to find out more. You can also learn more at liveonny.org.

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Just 37 seconds into Tuesday’s Suffolk County Class A quarterfinal at Thomas Cutinella Memorial Field in Shoreham, the ball fell to Kya Condon’s feet about 35 yards from Comsewogue’s goal. The senior center midfielder essentially thought to herself, “Why not?”

Condon hammered a booming blast from straight on that soared high. Goalkeeper Emma Norton got a hand to it, but not enough to prevent the powerful shot from reaching the upper left corner.

Despite top-seeded SWR’s efforts to add to the score, that was the game’s only goal.

SWR 1, Comsewogue 0.

“I saw like the opening and my teammate Maddie Bergan, I know she like started ducking” to get out of the way, Condon said. “She [knew] I was going for it.”

The shot had goal written all over it from the start.

“As soon as she shot it, I knew it was going in,” said Ava Gengler, who played striker and center midfield for League IV champion SWR (14-2-1).

Condon said: “We were all mentally like we’re going in, we’re gonna kill ourselves for our teammates and for like everybody, so I was in like a mental state like I wasn’t even on the field. It felt like honestly an out-of-body experience, like just go, go, go, go!”

And SWR is going. The Wildcats will host No. 5 Eastport-South Manor (12-3-2) in a semifinal Friday. SWR had defeated ESM on the same field Oct. 17, 2-0.

Because SWR is the No. 1 seed, it has the rare opportunity to win a county championship on its home field. Shoreham will host the county final Nov. 1.

“I don’t want it to be a curse, I want it to be a blessing,” said SWR coach Mike Gengler, whose nieces Ava and Mia Gengler play on the team.

Still, even the No. 1 seed has to deal with the pressures that come with the playoffs. At this stage, every team is good.

“That’s the consensus across the board,” Mike Gengler said. “If you’re in it’s because you belong.”

“A seeding is just a seat at the table,” he added. “Everybody’s fighting not to end their senior season. And you know, we have nine seniors that are saying, ‘We’re not done,’ and you know, they’re showing up.”

They showed up Tuesday. Although the score didn’t reflect it, SWR urgently pushed hard for an insurance goal, but never got it.

A good deal of the reason for that was Norton’s goalkeeping. She made nine saves, and there were quality stops among them. The diving Norton did well to parry aside a shot by Annie Sheehan, made a great stretching save on Ava Gengler and denied Bergan on the doorstep.

“An amazing keeper showed up today,” Mike Gengler said. “I have to say their goalie, Emma, had one of the best keeper showings I’ve seen in almost 20 years of coaching. She kept them in that game.”

Ava Gengler drilled a shot off the crossbar in the 51st minute.

SWR outshot No. 8 Comsewogue (10-5-2), 22-3.

Comsewogue’s best chance was snuffed out when goalie Morgan Lesiewicz smothered an attempt by Maria Stamatopoulos. The SWR back line of Jessica Nastasi, Grace Hillis, Sheehan and Abigail Beran saw to it that Lesiewicz didn’t need to make more than two saves.

“Every single one of these teams, they don’t come out here not wanting to win,” Condon said. “It’s very rough like that. It’s just who wants it more and who’s going to get it done?”

How neat would it be for SWR to win a county title on its own field?

“I played here,” Mike Gengler said. “I coached here with my brother. It’s never lined up like this before in 25 years.”

He said his players have “been together a long time. A lot of underclassmen are learning from the upperclassmen and, you know, we’re putting another coin in the merry-go-round of tradition.”

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