Luchianna Cardello stepping into her shot-stopping spot

Luchianna Cardello stepped on the lacrosse field for the very first time in fourth grade, and the rest is history. Now a freshman at Hofstra, she has been named the starting goalie.

Cardello grew up in Massapequa, New York, and started playing lacrosse on a P.A.L. team, a little league team that was part of the Long Island Lacrosse League. After playing as an attacker for a short amount of time, she decided to follow her older sister Sophia and change to the opposite side of the field.

“I started off as an attacker for like a month or two,” Cardello said. “Then my older sister Sophia was a goalie, so I like to copy what she did.” 

She played at the Long Island Top Guns, a club lacrosse team, from fifth grade until her senior year of high school. In hindsight, Cardello thinks that the experience of club lacrosse is what gave her the callouses needed for collegiate lacrosse.

“I got to experience all different types of players from everywhere, playing other teams, so it definitely expanded my horizons,” she said.

During her time in high school, Cardello was named All-County in 2021 and 2022, and her team also won three Nassau County Championships.

“[The team and I] were all great friends, so being able to win stuff together was an awesome feeling,” Cardello said. “[Winning the championships] made me progress ability-wise and has taught me to stay humble while winning and never get too high, never get too low and to focus on my game plan.”

Two of her coaches, Megan Zimmer and Tiana Parrella, were Hofstra graduates themselves.

“They’re both great coaches,” Cardello said. “The fact they went to Hofstra gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling and inspired me even more to want to come here.”

One of the factors that aided in Cardello’s college choice was the distance from home. Many of her current teammates come from her hometown of Massapequa, and they all said positive things, especially about the familial culture of the team. Another deciding factor stemmed from the opportunity of being coached by Shannon Smith.

“Hofstra has a great culture,” she said. “I have people from my town on the team, and I’ve only heard them say positive stuff and how everyone’s like a family.”

Smith saw Cardello’s talent early on and recruited her as soon as possible, and those choices are proving to be a quality investment on Smith’s part.

“I think that she would be able to make some point-blank saves at critical points of the game and was able to cut down her angles very well and make a lot of saves,” Smith said. “You get some of the best teams in the country that she was playing against, and she played on an outstanding club program and team for her age group. They were very good.”

Smith also talked about Cardello’s ability to be calm and composed. 

“[She] doesn’t let her highs get too high or her lows get too low; stays right in the middle; calm, cool and collected,” Smith said. “You need those characteristics as a goalie in the cage to be able to reset yourself after a goal goes in or after a big save to stay locked in and focused.”

Knowing people from her hometown allowed Cardello to settle in easily. Her sister’s best friend, Kate Fiola, is on the current team, which helped the freshman goalie become comfortable. 

“[Knowing people] definitely made me comfortable coming in,” she said. “Everyone was very welcoming.”

Smith stated that the coaching staff knew Cardello was a very good goalie coming into the team but transitioning to the college level required some time to get used to. Smith also credits Cardello’s older sister Sophia as someone who helped teach the younger player. 

“I think she learned a lot from her sister, watching her and asking questions,” Smith said.

The coaching staff was undecided on what they were going to do regarding goalies coming into the season. Luckily for Cardello, her hard work in the offseason paid off before coaches had to choose their starting goalie.

“[Cardello] worked very hard in the winter and put a lot of time and effort in with conditioning, exploding to the ball, hand and eye quickness,” Smith said. “[The coaches] evaluate every position; the best players are going to play, and she was able to fill that role.”

While filling the goalkeeping role for the Pride, she remains true to herself while learning how to be a leader from those who came before her.

“I think she’s very lucky, she has some great leaders in front of her. With the defense and Jackie Gatti down there and then Brynn Hepting, as well as Trinity Reed, the kids do a really great job at leading,” Smith said. “I think she brings a loose personality, but she can also be super competitive and locked in, so I think that’s also good there’s a balance there. I think it’s important to have that as a freshman.”

After being ready on the bench for the first four games of the season, Smith and her coaching staff decided to declare Cardello the starter. Since then, she has started the last eight games for the team.

“It’s definitely an honor,” she said. “I was super excited and ready to get onto the field. I knew I was ready for it.”

The coaches also had to consider graduate student Jess Smith, who started the previous four years and at the beginning of this year. Shannon Smith did mention that if Cardello did not play this year, she would have been redshirted and still have had the chance to play for four years.

“Obviously a tough decision,” Shannon Smith said. “[Cardello] was starting to outplay at practice and was making a lot of saves, and we just decided to make the change, a decision that she’s very well deserving of.”

Cardello says that she just wants to play her best lacrosse and have fun doing it.

Photo courtesy of Evan Bernstein/Hofstra Athletics