West Islip Edges Hills in Double OT Girls Lax Playoff Thriller

Loren Ziegler wasn’t ready for her high school lacrosse career to end.

The West Islip senior attack scored the final two goals, including the game-winner with 26 seconds left in double overtime, to lead the Lions past Half Hollow Hills 12-11 in the Suffolk Class A quarterfinals Monday at . 

Hills beat West Islip 11-9 earlier this month and the Thunderbirds came out firing on Monday, racing out to a 4-1 lead behind two goals from sophomore midfielder Julia DiMaria. West Islip head coach Joe Nicolosi called a timeout and Lions picked it up from there. 

“Our nerves got to us in the beginning and none of us were ready to play up to their intensity,” said Ziegler, who finished with three goals. “But once we got the timeout and coach calmed us down and told us we had this, we went back out there and took over.” 

Three Lions goals--from Kelsey Allen, Erin Byrnes and Erin Collins-- in a span of three minutes tied the game at four and West Islip would take a 6-4 lead into the half. 

The sixth-seeded Thunderbirds, in the playoffs for the first time in school history, beat Sachem North 10-7 last Friday in the first round. Third-seeded West Islip had a bye into the second round. 

The second half was a back-and-forth slugfest with the teams trading goals until the finish. Hills senior attack Ariel O'Shea scored all three of her goals in the second stanza. With just more than two minutes to play, DiMaria, who finished with four goals and two assists, knotted the score at 10, where it would stand at the end of regulation.

DiMaria, off an assist from Nichole Doran, put Hills on the board first in overtime, but West Islip answered back 12 seconds later with a tally from Ziegler. 

With fans on both sides of the field out of their seats and less than a half minute to go in double overtime, Collins fired a pass to a cutting Ziegler near the Thunderbirds net. Ziegler never took possession of the ball, which was deflected in front, but it found the back of net behind Thunderbirds goaltender Jillian Rocco. 

“Today we scored when we needed to score and we got out of this,” Nicolosi said. 

“My goalie stepped up,” the Lions coach said of Krista Spagnoletta, who finished with seven saves. “She made some huge saves that helped keep the momentum going for us. Overall, I think it was a great game.”

Next up, the Lions play at second-seeded Bay Shore in the semifinals on Wednesday at 4 p.m.  West Islip lost to Bay Shore by one goal in the semis last year.