East Boys Lacrosse Advances to Quarterfinals With Win Over East Islip

East boys lacrosse battled East Islip throughout Thursday’s game and hung on to defeat the Redmen 10-7, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Suffolk County playoffs.

The Bulls led by one goal after each of the first three quarters. Two fourth quarter goals by seniors Cole Andersen and Ryan DeSimone gave East a 9-6 lead with four minutes left, but the game was far from over.

East Islip’s Tom O’Neill scored off a broken play with just two minutes remaining to make it 9-7. When East Islip won the ensuing faceoff they charged down the field and thought they had scored again with 1:29 remaining, however, the goal was waved off and East was able to breathe easy. East’s Matt Hobby added a goal with 45 seconds remaining to provide the final margin.

“I’m very happy for my guys,” East coach Jason Lambert said. “These kids worked really hard all year and we lost a really good senior class last year … I told these guys all year to have a chip on their shoulder and work hard and now with this win today it puts us in the quarterfinals. Every year since East reopened we’ve made it to the quarters and these guys have gone as far as any other team we’ve ever had here when they had the most adversity going against them.”

DeSimone paced the offense, scoring twice and picking up four assists. Andersen scored twice and had an assist. His first goal was a big one that gave Smithtown a two-goal lead right after halftime.

“Cole is great, he’s a warrior,” Lambert said. “He doesn’t come off the field for us and he’s got the heart of a lion. He wears No. 44 for a reason – Coach Huff used to wear that number – and we pass that on now to the person who represents our program the best and Cole does that.”

Brian Balkman was huge in goal for the Bulls, making 15 saves, including some crucial stops down the stretch. East Islip hit a crossbar early in the fourth but Balkman also made three point blank saves to keep his team in front, including one on start midfielder Kevin Hutchinson.

East Islip coach Joe Ancona was complimentary of the Bulls after the game.

“They’re always prepared and I’ve never played them assuming anything is going to be a gimme,” he said. “The coaching staff works very hard and the players play with class, they play the game very well.”

Smithtown will be able to savor praise and this victory for only a short time before preparing for its quarterfinal game against No. 1 West Islip on Tuesday.

“We knew going in to today that if we won we would get a chance to play them” Lambert said. “That’s all you want is a chance to play the best.”