Boys Lacrosse: Cutinella’s four goals lead SWR to L.I. title

Junior Kevin Cutinella scored four goals to lead the Shoreham-Wading River boys lacrosse team to the Class B Long Island championship Saturday. 

The Wildcats scored four goals in each half in the 8-6 victory over Garden City at Hofstra University.

Despite scoring the game’s first three goals, Shoreham-Wading River still trailed in the second period, but ultimately edged their opponents in a defensive battle.

“Just don’t make an error, you’ve got to come out there every single play 100 percent,” Cutinella said of the close matchup with Garden City. “And when you don’t, they score, so it’s flat out every play all the time. It was a great team effort.”

Known for being a second-half team, the Wildcats had to lean on goalie Jimmy Puckey to keep them in the game. The senior made nine saves, including several from close range, against the attacking Trojans.

“They’re very good shooters but our ‘D’ played a hell of a game,” Puckey said.

Cutinella scored Shoreham-Wading River’s first two goals, assisted on the game-tying fourth and then scored to give the Wildcats the lead for good at 5-4. His final goal was a clinching score that gave SWR a 7-5 lead with 7:33 left in the game.

Joe Miller, Chris Gray, eighth grader Xavier Arliln and John Constant also scored for Shoreham-Wading River.

“We had film on them that we studied,” Constant said. “Yeah we knew it was going to be a defensive struggle, so we had to come out flying on offense.”

The Long Island Champions advance to play in a3:30 p.m.  state semifinal Wednesday at Hofstra, against an opponent still to be determined.

When asked what his team will do to prepare for the New York state semifinal round Puckey said “the same thing we’ve done every week.”

“We’ll watch film, study who their big shooters are, match up and let it fly,” he said.

Top caption: The Shoreham-Wading RIver boys lacrosse team dogpiles following its Long Island championship victory Saturday. (Credit: Bill Landon)