With seconds left on the clock, Smithtown West goalkeeper Dylan Bonasera stared down his opponent’s shot, stretched his arms out front, swiped left and batted down what would have been a game-tying goal to send his No. 1 Bulls to the Suffolk County Class B championship game. With its 7-6 semifinal victory over the No. 4 Westhampton Beach May 24, the team is now knocking on the door of history, with the chance to become the first from Smithtown West to take home the title.
“There was no doubt in my mind that he would come up with the stop,” said senior attack Colin Hansen. “But it was a battle and a grind from the starting whistle to the very end.”
Hansen said Smithtown West (13-4 overall, 11-4 in Division II) knew the Hurricanes to be part of a great, well-coached team, so his Bulls knew they had to come out strong and fire on all cylinders, which they did.
Senior midfielder Owen Ellick got the ball rolling with a goal 38 seconds into the game, and after a Westhampton Beach save Dylan Rail and Jaxson Rubio forced turnovers and Bonasera made his first stop before Ron Trebing put the ball away for a 2-0 lead at the end of the first. Three minutes into the second quarter, Ellick found Liam Byrne cutting to the crease for a 3-0 lead.
“We set the tone early,” Rail said. “As a team, I think we played very well, and all the hard work we put in is starting to pay off.”
But Westhampton (11-6, 9-6) slowly started to creep back into it. Morgan McEntee put the Hurricanes on the board to cap the scoring for the first half, and Gavin Arcuri found an opening down low on a fast break with 6:50 left in the third to pull his team within one. But every time the team tried to gain momentum, Smithtown West had an answer. Twenty-four seconds after Arcuri’s goal, and even after Westhampton’s Nolan Michalowski scooped the ball to Christian Killoran off the ensuing faceoff, Rail forced a turnover at the sideline, and carried the ball all the way to the cage, placing it into the top right corner as he swooped in front of the goal to make it 4-2.
“I was glad I was a help to my team,” Rail said. “It felt great.”
But once again Westhampton showed why it can’t be counted out. Aidan Kellachan made a check to force a turnover after the Bulls won the faceoff, and Bonasera was forced to make a save before Liam McMunn’s check for another Hurricanes turnover. While the team couldn’t connect passes on the fast break and handed the ball to Smithtown with a pass out of bounds, Arcuri scooped up the ball off his own turnover, and despite losing it at the far sideline, Killoran was there to pick it up and dash toward an empty Smithtown goal, knocking it in with one second left in the third to make it a one-goal game for the second time.
“I was just thinking, ‘I have to go back and ride,’ and try to get us an extra possession before the end of the quarter,” Arcuri said. “But Christian took the ball away and picked it up clean, and I knew once he saw the open net that he was shooting, and I was right there to congratulate him when he scored.”
Jake Dagata made a stop for the Hurricanes to open the final stanza, and Chris Koltzan followed it up 30 seconds later with the game-tying goal that sent the visiting crowd into a frenzy. Although Smithtown won the battle at ‘X,’ Kellachan forced a turnover that led to Dan Naglieri’s goal that gave the Hurricanes their only lead.
It didn’t last long, though, with Hansen knotting the score, 5-5, 30 seconds later.
“My teammate Ryan Downing came down, drew my defenseman and dumped it to me,” Hansen said. “No one slid, so I took the shot. That play was a huge momentum shift for us.”
Hansen actually bookended a Rail goal for a 7-5 lead with 6:20 left to play. He credited his defense for its efforts despite the Hurricanes winning the faceoff.
“They played great — they kept getting the ball back to us,” he said. “But it felt good to go up one more. It gave our team the juice to finish it out.”
Rail said the goal from the beginning was for the defense to win its matchups, and the constant possession grabs from the back lines on both sides made it a back-and-forth battle to the last second, with Chance Brindle’s forced turnover leading to Arcuri’s final shot.
“Dylan has been having an amazing season, and we all knew that he was going to make a big-time save,” Rail said. “There was a huge sigh of relief across the field knowing that was the last play of the game and we were going to be going to a county championship.”
Rail said he feels his Bulls are a very strong group of athletes with good chemistry and wonderful coaches.
“We have a great shot to bring it home,” he said. “It would be a dream come true, and all the work we put in as a team will finally be rewarded.”
Smithtown West faces No. 2 Comsewogue (11-5, 9-5) — hot off its own close win, 6-5, over No. 3 West Islip — in the Class B final June 1 at East Islip High School at 4:30 p.m.
“We have the chance to make school history, and it would mean the world to us to do that,” Hansen said. “The win feels great, but the job’s not finished. We still have work to do.”
