Freshman Xavier Arline, Chris Gray lead Shoreham-Wading River to Suffolk ‘C’ title
Shoreham-Wading River players celebrate their win against Islip in the Suffolk Class C boys lacrosse championship at LaValle Stadium on Wednesday, May 31, 2017. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
X-Man was a superhero for Shoreham-Wading River Wednesday night, pulling off a spectacular rescue mission.
Xavier Arline, a freshman with speed, savvy and skills, stole the ball from Islip’s goaltender with an aggressive ride and made a behind-the-head pass to Chris Gray for an open-net goal that stopped an Islip run and propelled SWR to a 13-7 victory in the Suffolk Class C final at Stony Brook.
The Wildcats (15-3) made it back-to-back county titles and will face two-time state Class C champion Cold Spring Harbor on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Stony Brook. Islip was looking for its first county crown and finished a breakout season at 15-3.
Gray had five goals and an assist and leads Long Island with 86 goals.
The Buccaneers had scored four goals in 2:09 to get back in a game that looked to be over when Gray converted a solo dodge late in the third quarter for an 8-3 lead. But Kieran Kissane scored consecutive goals followed by tallies from Jeff Atlas and Mike Bienkowski to make it 8-7 with 8:08 left.
The Bucs forced a turnover and were about to clear the ball for an offensive rush when Arline (two goals, three assists) attacked. He stick-checked the ball away from Devin Degennaro, whose sparkling play in the first half had kept the Bucs in the game. Then, demonstrating expert lacrosse IQ, Arline delivered a no-look pass to Gray for the dunk that made it 9-7 with 7:48 left.
There was still plenty of time left for Islip, but the Wildcats were dynamite down the stretch. Kevin Cutinella scored his third on a long-distance blast before things faded to Gray. He stole the ball at midfield and scored on a breakaway. He took another crisp feed from Arline and buried it, then added an unassisted goal as SWR finished on a 5-0 blitz.
'Tears of joy that we made it' Lt. Col. Sean Boughal, of the 106th Rescue Wing, based in the Hamptons, spoke about his team's mission to perform rescue operations in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.
'Tears of joy that we made it' Lt. Col. Sean Boughal, of the 106th Rescue Wing, based in the Hamptons, spoke about his team's mission to perform rescue operations in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.
