By Bill Landon
Sachem East sent shock waves through the Smithtown West boys lacrosse team, but the Bulls didn’t back down from the fight.
After the Flaming Arrows scored to draw within one in the fourth, Smithtown West took control and slowed the clock to come away with a 5-4 win during an autism awareness fundraiser game April 14. Smithtown West remains undefeated on the season outscoring opponents 100-34 through eight games.
“First of all, hats off to Sachem East they played a complete game, a great game and they tested us in every phase of play today.”
— Bob Moltisanti
“First of all, hats off to Sachem East they played a complete game, a great game and they tested us in every phase of play today,” Smithtown West head coach Bobby Moltisanti said. “Defensively we did a great job, our short stick midfielders did a great job as well, so hats off to them and to our goalie holding them to just four goals. And on offense we got the job done and got the victory.”
The Bulls struggled against Sachem East’s (3-5 overall, 3-4 League I) stout defense early, with long sticks swatting at every pass and scooping up sever loose balls, taking four direct takeaways.
Midfielder Andrew Arce scored his first of three goals off a feed from attack John Hoffman for the early lead at the 7:46 mark of the opening quarter, but as with most of the game, Sachem East answered. Just 34 seconds later, Peter Engleken’s solo shot stretched the netting to even the score.
Smithtown West showed its a threat from every position when defenseman Kevin went the distance a minute later and scored.
Again, it was Engleken that made it a new game before Hoffman, who leads his team in scoring with 21 goals and 10 assists, broke the stalemate with four minutes remaining in the half on a feed from attack Marc Cottage.
“There was nothing easy about it. They cut our lead to one and we had to play mistake free if we were going to come out with the win.”
— Andrew Arce
Smithtown West banked its first insurance goal with just under five minutes left in third quarter when Sean Byrne flicked the ball to Arce on the cut, but Sachem East’s Nick Pagnotta dumped one in from close range to once again keep things close.
Arce fired a shot from 20 yards out with 10:35 left in regulation to complete his hat trick and put the Bulls out front again by two, 5-3.
“We knew we had to go back to our basics,” said Arce, a Binghamton University-bound senior. “They were tough on defense and they came at us hard the whole game — there was nothing easy about it. They cut our lead to one and we had to play mistake free if we were going to come out with the win.”
Tyler Jordan scored the final goal for the Flaming Arrows, but Moltisanti credited defenders Kevin Ehli, Reed Greco, Dave Gonzalez and Christian Lowd for holding off Sachem East to close out the game, and Kyle Walker for his 10 saves in goal.
Smithtown West will be tested once again when the Bulls travel to Connetquot (5-2 overall, 5-1 League I) April 18 at 5 p.m.
