Eighteen teams from lacrosse clubs across Suffolk played in a charity tournament to benefit Kait’s Angels hosted by the North Fork Lacrosse Club Saturday at Strawberry Fields in Mattituck.
The North Fork Lacrosse Shoot-Out was organized by the North Fork club’s board members, said member Michelle Clark, who brought the idea to the club.
“I thought it would be a great way to raise money for Kait’s Angels,” Clark said yesterday.
The organization, founded in memory of Kaitlyn Doorhy of Mattituck, “does so many great things for so many people,” Clark said, and she wanted to find a way to help.
Doorhy, 20, a Matittuck High School graduate, passed away after being struck by a car near her college in Bridgeport, Connecticut in August 2014.
“It’s amazing how much they do for other people,” Clark said. “I’m happy to help give something back.”
Clark’s three children play lacrosse on teams in the North Fork Lacrosse Club, which currently has 10 teams.
The club sent invitations out to the directors of all the other clubs asking them to invite their member teams, she said.
The tournament was promoted as an event aimed at having a great time for a great cause, she said.
“It was not about winning or losing,” Clark said. The competition was not segregated by division and there were no championships or trophies.
The event itself was a team effort, Clark pointed out. North Fork Lacrosse Club board members Michael Oliver, Ellie Kellershon, James Zappula, Erik Daly, Danielle Richert and Steven Kiely all “made it happen,” she said. “Everybody really stepped up.”
Clark said yesterday she did not yet have a final tally on the results of the fundraising effort.
“We have to figure out what we have after all expenses,” she said, but it was a successful event.
“We already started the plans for next year,” she said. “We will definitely do it again.”
SoutholdLOCAL photos by Jeremy Garretson
