Jessica Peluso's great all-around game lifts East Islip girls lacrosse to win over Babylon

Nearly everything about the East Islip girls lacrosse team starts and ends with Jessica Peluso.

The junior midfielder takes the draws, is the team’s leading scorer and what coach Steven Levy called the "backbone" of the defensive zone.

This was all evident Wednesday as Peluso had eight goals, three assists and six draw controls as East Islip defeated host Babylon, 13-4, in Suffolk Division II girls lacrosse.

"I don’t know, today I just felt it was on," Peluso said. "And I was running as hard as I can because we want to get another win before the season ends and yeah, I happened to score a lot."

Peluso has been thrown into a larger role this season than she expected the last time she took the field for East Islip. East Islip had a strong senior core last year, but with the season canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, Peluso had one fewer season to not only expand her game on the field but leadership off it.

"I definitely did have to take on a larger role with the team," Peluso said. "At first it was a little nerve-wracking, but coach Levy helped me out by screaming at me and getting me into the game so that definitely helps and I feel I got it down pat a little bit better."

And Levy said Suffolk hasn’t witnessed the best of Peluso yet.

SEE PHOTOSPhotos: East Islip vs. Babylon girls lacrosse

"There’s still more to her game we haven’t seen," he said. "That’s the scary part because she’s lost a year."

But Levy said Wednesday was Peluso’s best game of the season. Not only for her eight goals and 11 points, but for her strong presence defensively and on draw controls.

"Today, she shot the ball very well and she was in a groove," Levy said. "She probably could have done this before in the past, just her shooting wasn’t the way it was today. She was spot on. She had a complete game today."

Lauren Rigo added two goals and two assists for East Islip (7-6). Jeilinne Bonilla had two goals for Babylon (5-8).

East Islip closed the opening half with a 5-0 run, taking a 9-2 lead into halftime and scored the first two goals of the second half in the win.

"I feel like we finally got back to the groove of things as a team," Peluso said. "The last couple of games we haven’t really [clicked], but today we finally started running our offense and our defense and we got it done."