West Islip's Sagl Dazzles Crowd, LI Lax Crush in First Two Empire State Games

Buffalo, N.Y. – There is no more accomplished lacrosse athlete at the Empire State Games than Michael Sagl. Hey, when you play for West Islip – winners of four of the last five Class A state titles -- it's simply a matter of record. 

It was Sagl's stick work that did all the talking on Thursday. The rising senior midfielder scored twice as the Long Island scholastic boys lacrosse team pulled away from Hudson Valley, 13-7, on the turf at Canisius College.

It wasn't that Sagl scored -- he netted four goals in the state title game against Fairport in June--it was the way he scored. The Quinnipiac-bound middie showed a little flair when he scored on an over-the-shoulder and behind- the-back- shot, twice.

The first came on a feed from Hicksville's Brandon Gamblin (5 goals) to make it 5-2 with 3:45 left in the second quarter.

"I made a nice cut toward the goal and extended," Sagl said.  "But by the time I caught it, I ran out of angle.  So I just put it behind the back and see what happened. Luckily it went off the goalie's leg, hit the inside post and went in. So I was happy about that. It's nothing fancy. It's just a shot to use when you run out of angle. My instincts took over."

The next, a pass from Smithtown West's Kyle Keenan, came with 6:19 left in the third and made it 7-3.

"That one was a little more pretty because it wrapped around the goalie,'' said Sagl, a two-year starter at West Islip.

West Islip teammate Nicky Galasso, who finished his career as Long Island's all-time leading scorer with 500 points, played on the Empire team as a sophomore in 2008. When budget concerns and an economy in freefall forced the state to axe the Empire State Games a year ago, it left a lot of people wondering what might have been.

More than a few spectators on hand for Long Island's two games on Thursday wondered aloud what Galasso, who graduated in June, might have accomplished here last summer. Well, Sagl only whetted the appetite with his breath-taking performance.

Long Island, whose 2-0 start includes a 10-4 win over host Western, has two more games on Friday. They'll face Adirondack at 11 a.m., followed by a highly anticipated showdown versus Central under the lights at 8 p.m. With two winnable games left on the schedule – Adirondack and New York City – Long Island may have already positioned themselves to reach the gold medal game. You can bet Sagl will be a factor the rest of the way.

"I think it's a good start and it's momentum," Sagl said. "It should carry us into days two and three."