Smithtown West breezes past East in LAX schoolyard rivalry

By Anthony Vertucci

Smithtown West lacrosse has been rolling all season long and not even their rivalry with Smithtown East was enough to slow their momentum, as they cruised to a 17-7 victory Saturday evening. 

The game marked the return of star senior Kyle Keenan who showed zero signs of rust on the field. The Duke bound attacker had three goals and three assists on Saturday after being sidelined for the last four games with a concussion.

“It feels good to just get everything going and be with my team,” said Keenan, whose first quarter goal gave his team a 4-0 lead. “We’ve got Northport on Monday and then we just have to get prepared and come out strong for the playoffs.”

West took an early lead on East and never looked back, with two quick goals from seniors Ryan Joseph and Frankie Reda in the opening three minutes of play. East tried to rally late in the first with goals from Jimmy Tenbrink and Gary Watson, but West attacker James Pannell killed any remaining East momentum, scoring off the faceoff to open the second. This made it a 5-2 game and West proceeded to score eight unanswered goals.

“Usually it’s a much closer game,” said West head coach Sean Keenan. “We’re a very senior-laden team and they are just very young. They’re going to be very good in the future; I just think my kids were playing really well today.”

Matt Schultz and Ryan Joseph each played remarkably well for West, contributing four goals apiece, while Pannell’s two goals set the tone in the first half. Joe Varello, Pat O’Brien, and Alex Dodge each scored a goal, while Craig Madarasz had two assists. Dylan Senft attempted to stop the bleeding for East with a breakaway goal at 2:39 in the third, but O’Brien’s goal a mere 15 seconds latter was the final dagger, giving West a commanding 14-3 lead.

“A nice positive about the game is that it’s a big rivalry between East and West and all the kids played great,” said Smithtown East athletic director Pat Smith. “West, today just had the better day but East is still a good team. West got up early and it just rolled in their favor but you could play this game tomorrow and it could go the other way.”

West (12-3, 11-2) will receive a first round bye in the playoffs with a likely number three seed. Their first postseason game will take place at home on May 24. East (8-7, 6-7) could earn a playoff berth with a win over Longwood on Monday, but would need several other teams to lose their respective games in order for that goal to come to fruition.  

“You’re just trying to get out of here healthy and go into the playoffs with everyone back, said coach Keenan. “We’re almost at 100 percent and we will hopefully be at full strength in time for the first round.”

Game Notes:  Matt Hobby, Ryan Desimone and Cole Anderson each had one goal for Smithtown East…West’s starting goalie Ryan Adler had six saves versus four goals allowed, while East starting goalie Brian Balkam made seven saves against 14 goals allowed.