The target on the St. Anthony’s girls lacrosse team’s back has never been bigger — and it hasn’t mattered.
Every opponent knows what’s coming when they face the nation’s No. 1 team. And for nearly three years now, no one has found a way to stop the Friars.
St. Anthony’s has won 50 straight games — the longest active streak in the country.
“Obviously the streak is in the back of our minds, but we do a great job of blocking it out,” senior Emma Speed told Greater Long Island. “We know we have to focus on one game at a time.”
The last time the Friars lost came in April 2023, against Victor High School — a perennial powerhouse from the Rochester area.
Fittingly, it was that same program St. Anthony’s beat Sunday afternoon to reach the 50-game milestone.
And it wasn’t close.
Victor, winners of four straight state championships and widely considered the top public school team in New York, left South Huntington with a 12-3 loss — its most lopsided defeat since before the pandemic.
That’s what makes this run even more impressive.
Year after year, St. Anthony’s loads its schedule with state champions and nationally ranked opponents. This season is no different.
In two weeks, the Friars travel to Connecticut to face Darien, the state’s top team and the No. 1 ranked public school in the country. A few days later, they head to Florida to take on national power IMG Academy.
Then, on the final Saturday in April, they’ll meet another New York contender, Nyack, at the Gains for Brains tournament in Cold Spring Harbor.
“We all want it so bad,” said Speed, who is committed to play at Florida next year. “We are all just so locked in, and we all want that same goal — to beat the team we are playing that day.”
And when the Friars are locked in, it’s bad news for everyone on the other side.
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