Whitman Boys Lacrosse Fail To Gain Ground On East Islip

The Whitman boys lacrosse team fought back from a first-quarter hole against East Islip Tuesday but ultimately came up short, falling 16-13 in a high-scoring League I match at .

East Islip's Tyler Rigo scored two of his four goals back-to-back in the fourth quarter to extend a 13-12 East Islip lead to 15-12. The Wildcats were unable to recover, dropping them to 4-3 in Suffolk League I play and preventing them from gaining ground on the 6-1 Redmen.

Heroes: Coming into the season, the ability of Whitman's potent attack was well-known around the rest of the league. Their ability was on display Tuesday night. Senior Zach Finn led the Wildcat attack with five goals. Three of them came in the third quarter, with the last tying the game at 11 with 18.2 seconds left. Junior Evan Zakow netted three goals of his own, with senior midfielder Myles Jones pitching in two. Michael Chimenti, Mitchell Bermudez, and Kevin Teresky rounded out the scoring for Whitman.

East Islip got four goals from Rigo, three each from Tyler Begley and Kevin Wendel, and two from Kevin Hutchinson.

Turning Point: The loss was the end result of a back-and-forth battle throughout. The Wildcats were held to just one goal in the first and trailed 5-1 after it ended. But they started to get their offense back in sync after that.

"We had momentum going from the second quarter," said Zakow. "Myles [Jones] won faceoffs, and the offense picked it up a little."

The Wildcats fought all the way back to even the game by the end of the third, and Jones scored off of a terrific individual effort off the opening faceoff of the fourth quarter to put the Wildcats ahead 12-11. But East Islip's Nicholas Ancona quickly equalized for the Redmen, and they took the lead soon after on a goal by Begley. Whitman followed with two significant scoring chances of their own, but they were met with two of Redmen goaltender Chris Guzzetta's eleven saves (the second coming off a point-blank chance from Finn). Rigo's two goals followed, putting the game out of reach.

Quotable: After the game, Zakow felt that his team let the game get away. "These ones are tough," he said. "East Islip and us are battling for position in League I."

He added, though, that he felt like the team was starting to play better after a so-so start. "We definitely have the potential to make the playoffs," he said. "If we keep some our momentum going from today, we'll turn things around."

Key Stat: Whitman was outscored 5-1 in the first quarter. They were outscored 5-1 following Jones' goal in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.

Upcoming: Whitman's next League I game will be another chance to move up the League I ladder. They will travel to take on 5-1 Smithtown West on Friday at 7.

Box Score:

.............................1..........2..........3..........4...........T

East Islip...............5..........2..........4..........5..........16

Whitman...............1..........4..........6..........2..........13

EI: Rigo 4, Begley 3, Wendel 3, K. Hutchinson 2, Ancona, B. Celafu, Caligari, O'Neill.

WW: Finn 5, Zakow 3, Jones 2, Chimenti, Bermudez, Teresky.