West Lacrosse Falls in Finals at Tri-Lax National Summer Festival

Though the West lacrosse season ended more than a month ago with a loss in the Suffolk County finals, the Bulls had a very good second week of July.

The team, without Duke University-bound Kyle Keenan and Virginia-bound junior attackman James Pannell, make up one of Long Island's premier teams that spent the weekend in New Jersey competing in the annual Tri-Lax National Summer Festival, a tournament that gathers the country's top talent.

West advanced to the finals of the Senior "A" bracket, but blew a 3-0 lead in a 4-3 overtime loss to Team Philadelphia Elite, which combines talent from the Philadelphia suburbs.

While a win is preferred, the goal for West is to continue the process of learning to play together.

"We're only a high school showing up here to play against all these select teams," said Bulls head coach Sean Keenan before the final. "Sometimes, our system is better than all the talent that these teams have. We play as a team regardless of how much talent they have. That's why we've been successful here. It makes us better in the spring time."

West blew through Saturday's round-robin portion of the Tri-Lax tournament in a style to how they rolled to a 15-4 record in 2011, dishing out equal punishments to teams from Texas, Delaware, Indiana and Pennsylvania and earning the top-seed team in the North bracket.

Sachem North, who also brought a team to the tournament, fell in the semifinals to Team Philadelphia Elite, preventing an all Long Island final.

Disappointment aside -- the West varsity squad won the championship in 2009 -- the Bulls are again ready to thrive in New York A Section 11, Division 1.

"It's better for us to compete as a team because we're going to be playing with each other next year," said midfielder Joe Varello. "It's good to be able to come here and compete with these All-Star teams. It gives us an appreciation of where we are as a team moving forward."

Moving ahead is an important step for West, who retain Pannell, but lose Keenan, defenseman Jordan Stevens (Cornell) and defenseman Brendan Madarasz (Army).

The spring season will be played to avenge the June 1 loss to the Lions, a game in which the Bulls roared back from a 9-2 deficit to force overtime. In surviving, West Islip ran their winning streak to 40 straight, but they lost 10-9 to Farmingdale in the first round of states.

"We know how close we came to being the first Smithtown West team to bring home a county championship," Varello said. "We're hoping to be there next spring. This is where we learn how to put it behind us and prepare for what's ahead."