The West Islip Lions' quest for a fourth state title in five years is off to a fast start.
Backed by three goals and four assists from senior attackman Nicky Galasso and 14 saves by junior goalie Kyle Turri, the Lions extended their winning streak to 16 games with a 16-4 romp over eighth-ranked Walt Whitman in the Suffolk County Class A quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Seniors Rob Moore and Andrew Hodgson also scored three times and junior Drew Federico added a goal and three assists for the top-seeded Lions, who will next host No. 4 Connetquot at West Islip High School on Friday. The Thunderbirds advanced by holding off East Islip 14-12 on Tuesday.
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"I thought we had a real good practice yesterday (Monday)," West Islip head coach Scott Craig said of the team's eight-day layoff. "I didn't think we were going to come out too stale. We came out with good emotion. We were fortunate enough that we were just the superior team today."
Moore and Hodgson ignited West Islip's six-goal first period by scoring 41 seconds apart with just over four minutes gone in the game. Moore gathered a loose ball at the high slot and ran towards the goal before ripping a shot past Wildcats' goalie Matt Gieri. Hodgson scored his off a setup by Galasso.
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Turri had already made his presence felt in the first couple of minutes of the game by stopping Walt Whitman's top two scorers, Kevin Teresky and Myles Jones, on separate possessions. He denied Jones a second time 10 seconds before Hodgson's goal.
"I knew that our offense wasn't good at the beginning and knew I had to keep it at 0-0," Turri said.
The defense especially focused on Jones and kept him off the scoresheet the entire afternoon thanks to constant double teams and plays designed to keep him away from the cage. He had two goals and two assists in the Lions' 18-8 victory on May 11.
"We were sliding early on and when we gave the ball up, we were denying him," Craig said. "We were not letting him get to the cage without having to go through two people at all times. We drilled that for the last couple of days preparing for him and after playing him the first time; we knew he was a real horse and a great athlete."
Senior Joe Finnegan made it 3-0 at 5:40 of the first quarter and Federico gave the Lions a four-goal bulge 51 seconds later. With the Lions moving the ball around the perimeter, Federico took a pass from Hodgson at the right side and deked Wildcat defender P.J. White before whipping a shot over Gieri's shoulder.
"We came out up-tempo," Galasso said. "We just moved the ball around and got everyone involved. We came out shooting well and finishing our shots."
Galasso capped the onslaught by scoring twice in 2:42 near the latter stages of the quarter. On the first goal, he was surprisingly held unaccounted for by the Walt Whitman defense and took a pass from Moore besides the right post before beating Gieri.
It took almost six and a half minutes for West Islip to score in the second quarter, but made it 7-0 when Federico flipped a pass from behind the cage to a waiting Moore, who easily deposited the ball past Gieri from the low slot. Junior Conor Braddish tallied a minute later and Hodgson made it a nine-goal advantage with 1:17 left off another setup by Galasso.
"I thought in the second quarter we kind of went to sleep a little bit," Craig said. "We got sloppy by throwing the ball away and our shooting was not what it was at the start of the game. I think part of that was having eight days off."
Turri made nine saves in the first half before having his bid for a shutout end at 4:47 of the third quarter when John Deignan finished a give-and-go with Greg Harris. But Galasso, junior Michael Sagl, and Moore scored in a 56-second span soon after to give the Lions a 13-1 lead.
Both teams played their backup goalies in the fourth quarter, which was played mostly in running time.
West Islip, which hasn't lost since a 13-12 overtime defeat to Sachem North in the season opener on March 31, held the opposition to four goals or fewer for the sixth time this season. The Lions are an astonishing 102-5 since the start of the 2006 season.
The Lions will face Connetquot this Friday, May 28 at 4:30 p.m. at the high school. A win would propel the Lions to the Suffolk County Class A finals at Stony Brook University on Thursday, June 3 at 8 p.m against the winner of the Smithtown West and Ward Melville semi-final game.
West Islip defeated Connetquot 16-9 on April 27 behind Hodgson's four goals and five assists.
"Connetquot is a more balanced team [than Walt Whitman]," Craig said. "We'll give them our best."
