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High School: Chaminade Tops West Islip

Chaminade took a short trip across Long Island to play West Islip, and what resulted was somewhat shocking: Chaminade left West Islip with a 9-4 win. Last year, Chaminade knocked off West Islip 7-6 in the regular season, and then WI went on to go 21-1 and win the NYS Championship.

I’m not trying to take anything away from Chaminade right now, and I was impressed with their game throughout out the contest, but West Islip just doesn’t lose games by 5 goals very often… so this is a HUGE win for the Flyers. In last week’s National HS poll, Chaminade was at #2, while West Islip was 5th.

West Islip entered the game at 1-0, with a 14-6 win over Connetquot. Chaminade entered the game at 2-0, with wins over Massapequa and Fordham Prep (in the Bronx).

Chaminade started strong, winning the first face off, and getting a great shot on cage. After a couple turnovers, the Flyers got the ball back, held possession for a while, and cycled the ball around. Tommy Zenker (heading to Duke) opened the scoring for Chaminade at the 9:30 mark with a lefty turn and shoot move, off of a righty dodge. It was a textbook shot, and kept the West Islip goalie guessing.

Both teams then got some decent looks on cage, with WI holding a slight edge, and each side had some excellent defensive stands, to keep the score at 1-0 until there were 35 seconds left in the quarter. Mike Moynihan pulled a similar more to what Zenker did earlier, by splitting a double, rolling back, and getting his left hand free for a shot. 1-1 tie at the end of 1, thanks to some excellent defense by West Islip. Chaminade got a couple good looks.

Brian Pratt (headed to Yale) scored the third goal of the game, and it was also left handed, to put Chaminade up 2-1. Overhand beauty. It was textbook. The Flyers almost went up 3-1, but  a great save from Jared Farino turned the Flyers away.

The second quarter wore on, and it looked like we might not see another goal in the half, but with 2 minutes left James Roberts caught and shot a feed on the crease off a Lukovich assist. Chaminade went up 3-1, and the game got even more interesting. In case you were wondering, this fourth goal of the game was also scored left-handed. Unreal.

Chaminade won the ensuing face off, maintained their possession for about a minute, and then Sam Bonafede dodged the alley, LEFTY, and took an overhand bounce shot that found the inside of the net.

West Islip cut the lead to 4-2 with a little over 30 seconds left in the first half as Mike Moynihan notched his second of the day, and the first right handed goal of the game. West Islip got off a great lefty shot, which the Chaminade goalie saved. Moynihan scrapped for the rebound and put it in high to reduce the Flyers’ lead to two goals.

With 35 seconds left, a timeout was called. Chaminade possessed the ball, got it to Tommy Zenker, and he dodged down the lefty alley, putting another shot by the keeper, for his second of the day. Chaminade went up 5-2, and took their 3 goal lead into the second half.

The third quarter saw both teams push back defensively, with some exciting and physical play. A goal wasn’t scored until James Robets took a lefty rip with 4:44 remaining, to put Chaminade up 6-2. Matt McCallan (headed to Hopkins) closed the gap back to 3 goals less than 40 seconds later when he scored 5 yards off the crease off a nifty feed from behind.

With only a little time left in the third, Moynihan scored his third goal of the game, to bring West Islip back to two goals down off a beautiful dodge and finish. West Islip had at least three good chances to get the score one goal closer, but couldn’t convert. The third quarter ended with a Chaminade chance that didn’t go, and the score was 6-4 in favor of the Flyers.

It looked like we were going to get a killer fourth quarter, and a tight game, but Chaminade had other ideas. With 2 minutes gone, Bonafede fed Tommy Zenker for his third goal of the day, and Chaminade was up 7-4. Zenker’s catch low, and shoot style release is super fluid. He’s a finisher, baby!

Chaminade tacked on two more goals, and held West Islip scoreless the rest of the way, and this definitely makes the Flyers a strong candidate to be a national #1. They have size, and plenty of skill, as well as some serious team discipline. West Islip looked great… Chaminade just looked that much better.

For game highlights, check out MSG Varsity.