PREVIEW: Smithtown West v. Smithtown East

When people think about Long Island lacrosse the first thing that should come to their mind is the rivalry between Smithtown East and West.  Both these programs have produced some of the best lacrosse players the world has ever seen, including Rob Pannell who is the all-time points leader in college lacrosse.

East is packed with experience and talent as they have some of the biggest commits in the country.  Connor Desimone (Hopkins Commit), Bobby Burns (Penn State Commit), and Luke Eschbach (Yale Commit) are the big three for Smithtown East.  All three guys are studs and can score at will.  Desimone is a threat from behind that can beat his man, feed the rock, and put the ball in the back of the net when he needs to.  Bobby Burns is a slick lefty with great stick skills, that can shoot the ball from any angle and has a knack for putting up G-nodes.  Lastly, Eschbach is a big strong righty that can shoot the lights out of the ball while also being very skilled at finding the open spaces on the field. Let’s not forget that East has 4 face-off guys all going D1, two of which are brothers going to Hofstra.  

Connor DeSimone hoping to quarterback his team to a County Championship in his senior year. Connor is a key to the this rivalry game if Smithtown East wants to come out on top. 2016 Highlights from #22 above.

West, on the other hand, is also filled with studs and big time commits.  Kyle Zawadzki, the younger brother of Christian who is currently playing at Maryland, has a great lacrosse IQ and nice stick skills.  Jimmy Cattigan and Danny Riley both two-time all-county players are hoping to step up and have big years. Both Danny and Jimmy were awarded the honor of being captain this season, alongside goalie Ryan Erler, Cameron Brunsvold, and Hunter Greco.

Kyle Zawadzki (Yale Commit) will need to step-up if West has a shot at taking down East in this Rivalry Match-up! Kyle is a key to the game for the Bulls. Photo credit – Newsday.com

Both teams are off to a slower start than anticipated.  Smithtown East has is coming off two tough losses to teams that on paper they probably should have beaten.  West suffered a bad loss to Garden City where they were almost shut out as they lost 6-1.  But throw all previous wins and losses out the window when these two teams come together.  Looked at as one of the biggest rivalries on the island this matchup could be one of the best games of the year.

Prediction: East 15 West 13

 

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