Preview: Boys Lacrosse Aim for 9th Straight County Title

Record Last Year: 19-1 (40 game-winning streak snapped by )

Head Coach: Scott Craig (25th season)

Key Players: Nick Aponte (junior), Jack Kelly (senior), Anthony Santo (senior), Anthony DeLuca (senior), Branden Smith (senior), Jon Reese (senior), Paul Riportella (senior), Tom Moore (senior) 

Key Games: @ Chaminade (3/21), Sachem North (4/11), @ Smithtown West (4/19), Ward Melville (4/28)

As the old adage goes; ninth time's a charm.  

It's the ultimate goal for the 2012 West Islip boys lacrosse team, to win an unprecedented ninth straight Suffolk County Class A Title. A slew of returning attackmen, a veteran goalie and a junior star playmaker plan on making it happen.  

But coach Scott Craig said all the postseason brouhaha is an afterthought.  

"Our main goal is to get unity and chemistry," Craig said.  "To be happy with each other and to get a good feel for what we're trying to accomplish.  After that, we try and take it one game at a time.  

"We don't talk about county championships, we don't talk about making the playoffs.  If you do what you're supposed to be doing on a daily basis, those things will take care of themselves." 

Offense

Gone are big time point scorers Mike Sagl (Quinnipiac), Conor Braddish (Colgate) and Drew Federico (Fairfield).   

But fear not Lion lovers.  Three of the top four attackman return from the 2011 team; Brendan Smith (Marquette), Tom Moore (Denver) and Anthony DeLuca (CW Post).

Leading the middies are juniors Nick Aponte (Penn State), Ryan Wieczorek (Delaware) and senior Jon Reese (Yale), who'll take face-off responsibilities.  Aponte, who had a breakout year as a sophomore with 25 assists and 15 goals, will certainly recieve a lot more attention from opposing defenses.  

"Nick is a phenomenal athlete," Craig said.  "We're really trying to get him to work hard on his shooting, to become a more efficient scorer.  But he's always looking to make plays and make guys around him better."

Paul Riportella(Marquette), Matt Bellucci (Sacred Heart) and Mike Aniboli (Tampa) will take over when the midfield needs to be more defensive minded. 

RELATED: Relive the incredible 2011 season with our video highlight collection

Defense

It's the close defense where West Islip needs to rebuild the most. 

"We graduated everybody," Craig said.  "We're young down there, we're only playing one senior (Pat Ryan).  

Alongside Ryan will be returning starter Anthony Santo (Sacred Heart), who in addition to his pole-middie duties, will see some action at close defense.  Juniors Dan Johnson and Dan Madden round out that group. 

And last but not least is goalie Jack Kelly (Brown), who after biding his time behind Kyle Turri (Duke), will get the starting nod in 2012. 

"He's a high end goalie," Craig said.  "I think Jack is one of the best goalies on Long Island.  He's got great ability and we're gonna count on him to do a lot for us this year." 

Young Guns

Perhaps West Islip is best known for starting their players on varsity at a young age.  This year is no different.  Sophomore pole-middie AJ Ilchert is expected to get a fair amount of playing time.  Another sophomore Mike Monahan is described as a "real quick" middie who'll also be a face-off guy.  

"We've always promoted on average four eighth graders to our ninth grade team every year," Craig said.  "They play on JV as ninth graders, then varsity as tenth graders, but we perceive them as juniors at that point because they don't skip a level of play.  

"Most of the time they're good enough to get in the rotation because we love the idea of having four or five third-year varsity players who are seniors."

Schedule

Craig said the schedule isn't as deep as last season, but it still provides top talent on the Island.  He mentioned that since his defense is rebuilding, they'll look to win games 9-8 this year as opposed to the 6-5 scores of 2011.

"A lot of the teams we compete against are at the level that we're at," he said.  "But I don't think it goes as deep as it does last year.  There are some teams that we're unsure what they're gonna bring to the table.  

"Once we get in place and a little more experienced by May 1, I think we'll be a well-balanced club and be able to compete successfully at both ends of the field."