West Islip Developmental Gold overcame an early deficit to defeat Longwood Developmental Green 3-2 on Thursday night at North, completing a season sweep and improving to 12-7 on the campaign. The victory marked the third meeting between these SCHSHL developmental squads, with West Islip having previously taken a 6-3 road win in December after Longwood stunned them 3-0 in the season opener back in October.
Luke Ventura, who entered the night with 22 points in 16 games, provided the spark for West Islip with both a goal and an assist. After Longwood struck first through Aiden McLaughlin‘s even-strength tally at 1:52 of the opening period, Ventura answered back just over four minutes later with an unassisted marker to knot the game at 1-1. The second period belonged entirely to West Islip, as Matthew Lella capitalized on helpers from Ventura and Michael Coyle at 12:16, followed by Jake Totans‘ game-winner at 6:33 with assists from Mathieu Dischley.
Longwood, playing spoiler despite their 4-14 record entering the contest, refused to fold in the third period. Cayden Sobarzo, who came in with 19 points in 16 games, found the back of the net with 6:01 remaining off a feed from McLaughlin to cut the deficit to one. Both Sobarzo and McLaughlin finished with a goal and an assist for the visitors, but West Islip’s balanced attack proved too much as five different players recorded points on the night.
The victory keeps West Islip in strong position as the regular season winds down, while Longwood continues to battle through a challenging campaign. Despite the loss, the developmental Green squad showed resilience in pushing the playoff-bound Gold team to the final buzzer in what proved to be an entertaining back-and-forth affair.