West Islip Patch Athlete of the Week

West Islip Patch names Lions attackman Nicky Galasso as the Athlete of the Week. Galasso made his senior season one to remember, leading West Islip to its fourth Class A state championship in the last five seasons. His one goal, six assist performance in Saturday's state Class A final against Fairport made him Long Island all-time scoring leader for lacrosse.

At halftime on Saturday, West Islip was tied 5-5 with Fairport. Galasso was held to a single assist. But in the second half, he led the Lions with a goal and five assists during an 8-0 run to give West Islip a 13-5 win and its second consecutive state Class A title. 

"I expected Nicky to have a big second half because nobody controls Nicky for a whole game," said Lions coach Scott Craig. 

Galasso needed five points to tie the all-time Long Island scoring record, six points to beat the record and seven points to reach 500 for his career. He did all three on Saturday. "It was definitely an emotional day. I was thinking about my mom and after, with my dad, it just felt awesome," he said.

Galasso had dedicated his career to his mother Cindy, who did of lung cancer insummer 2004. Since then, Galasso has been a member of four Class A champion teams. He will continue his career at the University of North Carolina, where he will surely help the Tar Heels, which lost to Duke this year in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.