Dramatic Wins Caps Girls Soccer Regular Season

If the West Islip High School girls soccer team wanted a high-tension tune up for the playoffs, Smithtown West gave them everything they wanted.

The Lions capped its undefeated-untied run through League III with a dramatic 2-1 double overtime win over the Bulls Tuesday at West Islip High School. Freshman Vanessa Costantino found the back of the net with 28 second remaining in the second OT to give the Lions the win.

With the victory, West Islip will take its 12-0 League III record (14-1-1 overall) into the postseason, with playoff seeding to be determined later this week.

“We should be in the top three or four,” said Nick Grieco, head coach. “You just don’t know how tough all the leagues are until you get into the playoffs.”

As his team basked in the glow of the first undefeated season for the girls soccer team in school history, Grieco admitted that his team exceeded expectations for the regular season.

“If you told me August 27 that we would go 14-1-1 I would have said ‘no way,’” he said. “We lost nine starters and an All-State forward from last year’s team and we kept our expectations reachable. But week by week it kept snowballing.”

Despite losing several quality players from the 2011 squad, Greico said West Islip’s strong regular season stems from the team’s philosophy.

“We really don’t have any starters on the team,” he explained. “We have girls on the field and girls on the sideline. Everyone has a role on the team and in practice everyone contributes. Everyone is equal and the girls believe in each other.”

As for preparing for the postseason, Grieco said things would remain status quo.

“We’ll keep doing the same things and work to make sure they keep their focus,” he said. “We can play with just about anyone when we play West Islip soccer.”

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West Islip Scoring: Goals — Cassidy Rollman, Vanessa Costantino; Assists — Michelle Murphy, Nicole Blair

West Islip Goaltending: Megan Deak, 4 saves; Shannon Cronin, 3 saves.