Girls Soccer Continue Playoff Run With 4-0 Victory Over North Babylon.

The West Islip girls varsity soccer team made the most of their offensive opportunites on Saturday afternoon and were able to keep their playoff run going with a 4-0 victory over No. 9 North Babylon.

Nicole Perniciaro scored two goals for West Islip on two very nice plays and senior keeper Samantha Whitney had six saves in net to record her third straight shutout.  The Lions will defend their Suffolk County Class AA Championship against No. 6 Smithtown East on Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Dowling College Brookhaven campus.

"The score doesn't really reflect the game," head coach Nick Grieco said. "North Babylon's a tough opponent and we just did what we had to do. We came out aggressive and we finished our chances. A couple weeks ago when we tied a game 1-1 the ball didn't go in the net, today it did and that reflects the 4-0 score but it was a lot closer than that."

Perniciaro scored her first goal at the 18:34 mark in the first half when she deked a defender to the right, broke to her left and got her shot past North Babylon's keeper Kelly Heimerle. With just under four minutes left in the half, Perniciaro struck again when she got the ball inside off a beautiful through ball from Brooke Kerrigan and deposited the ball into the right side of the net.

"She was clutch," Grieco said of the sophomore forward. "The first goal she did a quick little move around the defender and buried it, the second one she had a lot of composure and just slotted it in the side of the net to get us a two goal lead. Her play was huge today."

Kelli Walter made it 3-0 when she scored after a throw-in from Kelsey Raschke to give the Lions some more breathing room in the second half. Carlie Schect capped off the win with the fourth goal of the game with just over eight minutes to go. On that goal, the ball got past Heimerle and slowly rolled to the net. When the defenders kicked it out, Schect was right there to knock it back in to an empty net for the score.

In the end it turned out the Lions really only needed to score once as they did not allow a goal for the third straight playoff game. A huge reason why is not only the strong play of Whitney, but also the defensive prowess of Samantha Schindler, Marissa Segreto and Jenn Martinez in the back.

"The back three shut down a team that scored [29] goals in the last eight games," Grieco said. "They played outstanding. Offense wins games and defense wins championships and that's what we're looking to do."

Although Perniciaro starred Friday with two highlight reel goals, she made it known that those goals and these victories wouldn't be possible without all 23 players – a philosophy echoed by the Lions throughout the season.

"It wasn't just me it's the whole team," she said. "Everyone contributed, even if they're on the bench, 23 players are always lifting me up and I don't take the credit because they did it for me. Everyone's pulling for each other. We got our three in the back and if someone gets beat, someone else is coming back around. We're just a big family."

That big family is on the verge of their second straight AA Title, but they'll have to get through the only team to beat them this season in order to do so. Back on Sept. 22, Smithtown East defeated the Lions 1-0 for their first and only loss of the season. West Islip evened the score by beating them 3-0 in a rematch on Oct. 12, but now it all comes down to Wednesday's final at Dowling College.

"The bad news is that it's Smithtown, the good news is it's someone in our league that we've played before," Grieco said. "We just have to play West Islip soccer."

"We have to bring the energy," Perniciaro added.  "Bring what we have and if we play like we should it'll be a good game."