Lions Shot Adjustment Jump Starts Offense

West Islip Lions head coach Scott Craig had some valuable advice for his team in last night's state Class A semifinal game — shoot low on the Lakeland Panas' net. But, said Craig, "We shot high in the first half a ridiculous amount. We just thought we were going to blow the ball by him."

The Lions scored 20 goals, their high for a game this season, but Lakeland's goaltender Robert Belger still managed to make 18 saves. "I thought we played into his wheelhouse and when we stopped doing that, we were very successful," Craig said. 

While shooting low may have had its advantages, it was the Lions aggressive pursuit of the ball in assistant coach Bill Turri's man-to-man defense and West Islip's control in the offensive zone with its scorers slashing through Lakeland/Panas' defense that gave the team an opportunity to play for the state title tomorrow. 

Still, Craig is hoping for a better defensive effort than his team showed on Thursday night, allowing 10 goals in the win. "I thought we were a little flat-footed defensively tonight. I don't know if it was the effort we put out the other night [a 13-1 win against Farmingdale] that we just weren't on our game. We weren't communicating as well and you have to give them a lot of credit," said Craig.

Junior Drew Federico, who had two goals and an assist, pointed out that this year's West Islip team is a different team than last year's team that won the state title. "We had all this talk about our defense being inexperienced. They proved themselves. We're going to go out and do the same thing that last year's team did," he said. 

Despite four goals and four assists by senior Andrew Hodgson, Craig thinks he still can play better. "He didn't play his 'A' game tonight," he said. 

"My best lacrosse is yet to come," Hodgson said. 

Galasso, closely checked all night, managed two goals and two assists, but still made his presence felt in the game. 

Now, the Lions are one win away from their fourth state title in the last five years. "Ever since we started playing in the second and third grades, that's what we strive for. We want to get to the state championship in our senior year. There's nothing better than this," said Rob Moore, who led the Lions with five goals. 

"We know we're going to have to step in up on Saturday," said Galasso. 

The Class A state championship game against Fairport is Saturday at 4 p.m. on Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium at Stony Brook University. Fairport is a suburb east of Rochester.