Seniors Charlotte Rathjen and Sienna Connolly have embraced one another and shed tears at Adelphi University in each of their first three years on the South Side girls lacrosse team. The two did so again on Wednesday, but for a significantly different reason. After years of heartbreaking losses in or near the county final, South Side broke through and won its first girls lacrosse county title in program history.

Shortly after the clock hit zero, Connolly and Rathjen made sure to find another on the field during team celebration. As the players and coaches walked over to receive their long-awaited championship plaque, Rathjen and Connolly walked a few paces ahead to feel the moment together.

“We’ve been playing together since we were little and we’ve gone through all these seasons together," Rathjen said. "We knew how much each other put into this. We knew how much we wanted it, so to finally get it done in our senior year is just amazing.”

“From PAL to now,” Connolly added, “being able to do this with my best friend is crazy.”

The two were integral on Wednesday as top-seeded South Side defeated No. 2 Wantagh, 14-8, in the Nassau Class C girls lacrosse title game at Adelphi on a cold, rainy evening. But the rain couldn’t dampen the mood for the Cyclones, who had just achieved history.

“It means everything to all of us,” Connolly said. “Since the fall, we’ve talked about how much we wanted this. And because we’ve never won one in school history, we knew this was the year to do it. We just put everything we had into this.”

Connolly and Rathjen each had three goals and sophomore Bobbie Creo scored five goals for South Side.

South Side (16-3) plays the winner of Saturday's Sayville-Bayport-Blue Point game in the Long Island Class C final/state Class C subregional at Adelphi at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Wantagh finished 9-10.

“They exceeded my expectations, honestly,” coach Robert Devlin said. “We always play Wantagh close. Wantagh is a very tough team. I was expecting a battle straight down to the end and when the girls kept rolling and rolling and rolling, we never relaxed, but it was a great result.”

Tara Cody added seven saves, Skye Korten had two goals and Ava Curtis had a goal and an assist for South Side. Juliana Cerasi had three goals and Riley Forthofer had two goals and two assists for Wantagh.

South Side lost to Wantagh at Adelphi in two of the last three years, including 11-10 in the semifinals last year. The season before, South Side lost to North Shore, 11-10, in overtime in the semifinals in another crushing defeat.

“To go out and do what we said we wanted to do, literally from last year when we lost to Wantagh, and for it to actually be happening is surreal,” Rathjen said.

South Side made sure this result wouldn’t be decided by any late fourth-quarter goals. Rathjen scored the game’s first two goals and after taking a 3-2 lead after the first quarter and a 7-4 advantage at halftime, South Side outscored Wantagh 4-1 in the third quarter to take an 11-5 advantage.

“We definitely knew it was going to be a battle coming in, but honestly, I’m not really surprised that we won by the amount that we did,” Rathjen said. “The amount of preparation and even just the mental preparation we’ve put into this game the last seven days has been (a lot).”

But the Cyclones aren’t content with just one historic moment. South Side has a chance at its first Long Island championship on Tuesday and to win that, they’d have to take down either the defending state champions in Sayville, or the state champions from two years ago in Bayport-Blue Point. The Cyclones are ready for the challenge.

“This was awesome to win and it’s never been done before, but we’re definitely not satisfied just with this,” Rathjen said. “Why not go all the way? Like we’ve said before, if there’s a group to do it, it’s this group. We believe so much in each other. We believe in what we are capable of and the team chemistry and belief are two factors we have, and that is going to beat talent any day.”