Sal Santoro's 18 saves help Half Hollow Hills improve to 15-0

Half Hollow Hills goalie Sal Santoro is nicknamed “Marinara,” and his lacrosse stick is his wooden spoon. On Monday, he was the not-so-secret sauce in Hills’ 16-7 Suffolk I road win over Huntington that kept his team undefeated.

Hills earned its 15th consecutive win with plenty of help from its junior goalie, who had 18 saves. That included five stops in the final six minutes of the game to silence a Huntington team that never quit.

Santoro and Hills’ defense held Huntington to its first single-digit scoring game since April 2. Hills (15-0, 13-0) constantly forced Huntington to try longer shots, which didn’t have much of a chance against a goalie of Santoro’s talents.

Long-stick midfielder Joe Filardi and defenseman Jake Casamento were absolute hounds on the ball, headlining a defensive effort aided by nonstop communication and intensity, which seemed to shift from player to player depending on where the ball was.

“We talk after every game, after every goal about what happened,” Santoro said. “Even when the offense scores, we talk about what happened so we know what led to the goal.”

Hills’ offense remained on the hot streak it began in April, scoring at least 16 goals in six of its last seven games. Attack Zach Marco led the charge Monday, scoring four of his five goals in the first half. He finished with three assists.

Between Marco and attack James Bruno’s seven points (four goals and three assists), Hills presented Huntington a pick-your-poison approach. Overcommit to one and it will find the other. Hills also can swing the ball to UNC commit Anthony Raio, who had four goals and two assists and leads Long Island with 64 goals. Or Hills can leave it in the stick of junior midfielder Luke Bradley, who had four first-half assists.

Hills’ quick and decisive ball movement made it nearly impossible to guard every angle with a constantly shifting point of attack.

“We have a lot of trust in each other,” Marco said. “It’s a team offense this year, everyone has a role . . . It’s been built upon over the years, and I think that’s why we’ve been successful.”

Even with wins over strong teams in Huntington (11-4, 9-4) and Ward Melville, Hills isn’t quite through the gantlet yet. There’s still the regular-season finale against Northport on Wednesday.

Santoro and Marco know the recipe for success is just staying the course.

“Each game has been another win,” Santoro said. “It just sets up the next step for Northport. It’s the final [step] to ending 16-0.”

“I think we have the team to do it,” Marco added. “We have faceoffs, offense, defense. We just have to keep building through it.”