By Jacob Infald
SMITHTOWN – The number one seeded Smithtown East Bulls took down East Islip 12-9 in the Section XI Class B boys lacrosse semifinals to advance to the County Championship.
Bulls’ junior midfielder Jack Reddock won the opening faceoff and streaked down the middle of the field, evading every East Islip defender in his path and before even 10 seconds had gone off the clock, his shot found the back of the net giving the Bulls a 1-0 lead. While the game had its back-and-forth moments, this shot by the University of Albany commit was a preview for what was to come in a statement victory as the Bulls defended their home turf.
The Bulls were able to hold off multiple runs from East Islip through a balanced offensive attack. East Islip and their zone defense was able to limit senior attacker Cameron James, who is committed to play college lacrosse in the Big 10 at John Hopkins University and entered the contest as the sixth leading goal scorer in the county, to just two goals and four total points. However, the Bulls demonstrated their depth with eight different players contributing points and six different goal scorers.
“I think we have the most depth in the entire league,” senior attack Hunter Hughes, who contributed three goals and one assist for the Bulls, told The Messenger. “Anyone from one side of the field to the other, everyone [can] pass and catch, everyone knows what they’re doing, everyone’s on the same page, and that’s why I think we’re so good.”
The Bulls have been more than good this season, compiling a 13-3 record in the regular season, with just one league loss coming at the hands of Comsewogue High School back on May 7. They imposed their will early on East Islip, scoring three goals in the first three and a half minutes, including an unassisted goal from Hughes at the 8:32 mark that saw Hughes cut through the middle of the field and fire it back into the net untouched to give the Bulls an early three goal advantage.
East Islip did not go away easily. The defending Class B County Champions are led by Sean Hannigan, a junior attack who is committed to play at Boston University in two years. Hannigan is fifth in Suffolk County in assists with 67, and leads an underclassmen heavy squad, including eighth grader Cody Stebbins who got Islip on the board with an unassisted top shelf goal with about eight minutes remaining in the first. After a Hannigan goal later in the quarter, Islip had life and were able to control the rest of the quarter.
After a back and forth start to the second, it was East Islip’s sophomore duo that was able to even up the score at three goals apiece. Sophomore midfielder Alex Theodoropoulos wrapped around the net and found sophomore attack Owen Madden on the right post, Madden caught it and bounced it into the goal. Madden was East Islip’s leading goal scorer this season with 38.
The Bulls were able to finish the half strong and regain momentum, with two goals from senior attack Brendan Power less than 90 seconds apart, they had a 5-3 lead and once again there was life both on their sidelines and in the bleachers.
With just over two minutes left in the half, Power found Hughes in the middle of the field about 20 yards out from the goal. Hughes reared back, and fired a ripper to the back of the net and the crowd went wild as they sang along to “Hey Baby”, by DJ Otzi, the Bulls’ signature song that was played after every goal.
“Just keep the kids grounded,” Bulls head coach Kevin Huff told The Messenger when asked about the challenges of managing the momentum swings of the first half. “Don’t get too high, don’t get too low, know what our needs are and let’s try to accomplish those goals, and they did.”
Despite a crafty goal from Madden to end the half, the Bulls did not relinquish their grip in the third quarter, scoring five unanswered goals over just over five minutes of gametime in the middle of the quarter to put the game on ice, holding a commanding 11-4 lead. All five of the goals were assisted, and Huff said that ball movement was a key to breaking East Islip’s zone.
“We had sort of a cycle type of offense where we keep cycling the ball and try to get them out of their defensive shape and overcommit two guys to the wrong zone,” said Huff. “I think we did a good job, we did a good job with that all year. We have a couple of good formations to run out, so that part was good.”
East Islip scored five more goals throughout the remainder of the contest, including three from Theodoropoulos, but it was not enough. A caused turnover and groundball by Troy Ress, Smithtown East junior midfielder, led to a fastbreak. Ress found James on the run and James put it in the back of the net, giving the Bulls a 12-7 lead with eight minutes to go, proving to be an insurmountable lead.
East Islip ended the game with two more unanswered goals, but they ran out of time as the Bulls defended home turf, winning 12-9. They advance to the Class B Championship which will take place at Stony Brook University, Saturday at 10:00a.m. where they will take on West Islip High School for a chance to move on to the Long Island Championship.
“We’re so excited,” Hughes said. “This whole week we’ve been talking about the last time we were there, and just feeling that feeling as we’re walking out and just knowing we can get back there, and we can change this and we can make history for this program.”
