Westhampton Beach Boys Lacrosse Defeats East Islip To Advance To County Semis

Coming into this season, members of the Westhampton Beach boys lacrosse team felt they had the ability to win a playoff game, but had to prove to everyone in Suffolk County that it could actually happen.

Hosting East Islip in its first home playoff game since 2013, the Hurricanes did just that, holding on to a 6-5 victory on Thursday, May 19, and what has since been confirmed as the program’s first ever postseason win. Westhampton Beach head coach Drew Peters wasn’t quite sure what the program had done when it first started in the late 1990s, so he stopped short of calling the program’s first ever win initially. But what he knew for sure is that it’s his and his staff’s first ever playoff win after four previous tries in 2012, 2013, 2016 and last season. The following day, Westhampton Beach Athletic Director Kathy Masterson confirmed that it was indeed the team’s first ever playoff victory.

And that would explain why Peters, assistant coaches Ralph Naglieri, Cody Hoyt and the rest of the staff embraced each other a little longer than usual on the sidelines after the final whistle blew, as their players rejoiced on the field. The victory advanced the Hurricanes to the Suffolk County Class B semifinals at top-seed Smithtown West this Tuesday, May 24, at 5 p.m. That game occurred too late to appear in this week’s edition of The Press, but can be found online at 27east.com and in next week’s edition.

“This definitely has a little bit of a monkey-off-the-back feel,” Peters said of last week’s victory. “What we said to the kids is we’re just fortunate to be a part of this, we’re along for the ride with them, we go as they go. There’s nothing that would make me more happy and proud for the seniors, a really deserving group, for them to win their last home game on this field and have it be a playoff game. They have been playing together for a really long time. A lot of them have been together since kindergarten and it was just a fitting way for them to end their Hurricane career on this field.”

Last week’s victory was the long-awaited vindication for the players that they deserve to be in the playoffs.

“This is what we expected all year,” said senior Gavin Arcuri, who sparked the offense with three goals. “We knew that we were capable of getting into the playoffs, and we knew that if we could get in that we could make a run, so credit to our coaches for putting us in a situation to win.

“It was a good team win,” senior Aidan Kellachan said. “Not a lot of people thought we could do this. But why not us this year?”

Chance Brindle, a junior who transferred to Westhampton Beach from Southampton, said he knew what he was getting into when he switched schools.

“I transferred into a good program with good coaches and so I had good expectations from the beginning and no one else really thought we did and we came out and showed that we know how to play.”

Westhampton Beach staked itself to a 1-0 lead it would take into the second quarter thanks to senior Dan Naglieri, who found the back of the net. But both teams would find themselves knotted up at 2-2 at the half.

Morgan McEntee, a junior, scored with 4:50 remaining in the third to give the ’Canes a 3-2 lead, then just over three minutes later, Arcuri, off a feed from McEntee, scored to make it a 4-2 game. Just when it felt like momentum was starting to go in favor of the ’Canes, East Islip’s Jason Fiorello scored with 3.2 seconds left in the third and then again early in the fourth to tie it at 4-4.

Following a big save by Westhampton Beach senior goalie Jake Dagata, one of 10 in the game, the ’Canes brought the ball downfield and set up their offense. Eventually, Kellachan found Brindle wide open in the middle, and he turned, fired and scored to make it a 5-4 game with 5:15 remaining in regulation.

“I was surprised I was that open, honestly,” Brindle said of the go-ahead goal. “It felt like a dream — I turned around and the nets were wide open — and I shot it as far as I could.”

About three minutes later, Arcuri took on an East Islip defender who he initially beat, but a nifty stick check knocked the ball loose and sent the ball bouncing 5 feet or so in front of him. Arcuri wasn’t rattled though. He picked up the ball, looked for a quick opening and scored to give Westhampton Beach a 6-4 lead, one that proved vital.

“It’s kind of weird, I kind of thrive doing those things, just improvising,” Arcuri explained. “My coaches tell me that all the time. I think that it’s just focus and that I know I’ve been through countless injuries, training and getting back, stuff like that. It’s just focus, being able to just keep my eye on it and stay with it. Get it and get it into the net is all I’m thinking.”

Matthew McIntee scored for East Islip with 49.3 seconds remaining, and the Redmen were pressuring again after winning the ensuing faceoff. But senior defender Ethan Faralan got a piece of a shot that deflected away from the goal which the ’Canes were able to gain possession of. They then sent the ball downfield and ran out the clock and celebrated.

“I wasn’t even looking at him, to be honest,” Faralan said of that play where he deflected the East Islip shot. “I thought we had him, but our middies were so gassed, they’d been running up and down the field. I saw him last second come around the corner and I just put my stick up there. It was a luck thing.”

Dagata made his fair share of big saves throughout the game, but he gave credit to his defense, which played well in front of him.

“I mean, look, I can’t do anything without the defense. I give all my props to the defense,” he said. “They gave me the opportunity to just make some great saves. The shots they were taking, they weren’t great shots, and that’s why I was making saves and that’s why I looked so good. Without my defense I can’t do anything.”

“This is huge, this is everything,” Dagata added of the win. “This is why we put in the extra hours, this is all we ever wanted. It feels amazing.”

After celebrating their first playoff victory, the ’Canes will get back to work and start preparing for a Smithtown West team that earned the top seed in the Class B playoffs by finishing with a 10-4 record. Earlier this season, Westhampton Beach lost a close game, 11-10, to the Bulls, who moved down from Class A this season. Since both teams were so unfamiliar with each other in that game, Peters called it an old school lacrosse game where the two teams just kept taking it up and down the field. He’s expecting a much different game this Tuesday.

“This will be a lot more scouting involved in it, and they’re the one seed. They’re the one seed for a reason. They’re a very good team, they have a very good coach, and they’ve got some great players on all sides of the ball. What can we do to keep this going?”

The players are feeling confident going into the county semis.

“They’re a really good team,” Brindle said, “but we played them earlier in the year and we got so much better since then, so it’s going to be anyone’s game.

“We know that we’re so capable of winning that game,” senior Christian Killoran said. “This whole division is wide open. We can walk into Smithtown West and win that game with ease, we just have to play our asses off.”