Landing at No. 19 in our top 20 preseason rankings are the East Islip Redmen of Suffolk Class B. Last season was the first year at the helm for Head Coach Tom Zummo who guided them to an overall record of 9-8 which included an appearance in the playoffs. After being defeated in the quarterfinals by Westhampton by one goal, coach Zummo is looking forward to getting his second year started with the group of guys he’ll be leading. “Excited to start year two with a group of boys we have now had for a full year in our system. Keys to our success will be finding an identity on defense”, Zummo shared with the LILJ.
This season East Islip sees a number of key returners that will have this team in contention in a wide open Class B. Headlining those returning players is junior midfielder Matt McIntee who is committed to Syracuse and will be one of their four captains. McIntee is a dual threat when he has the ball with his ability to make defenses pay both as a scorer and a facilitator. In his sophomore season he posted 25 goals and 24 assists for 49 points which was the second most on the team. One of the midfielders who will be playing alongside him is sophomore Ryan Parker who got ample playing time last season as a freshman, scoring 11 goals along with four assists. Playing attack for the Redmen this year is junior Charlie Heffernan who found the back of the net 22 times a year ago. The face-off responsibilities will be held by returning FOGO Stephen Coleman who is another one of their captains. As a team the offense averaged 9.4 goals per game.
Looking at their key returning poles, East Islip welcomes back senior captain Jesse Byrnes playing LSM. However they will be without senior defenseman and captain Aiden Lenox this season due to an ACL injury which means they will be looking for someone to step up in his absence and take on a leadership role. One of the biggest strengths for East Islip defensively is the goaltending of Drew Walendowski who is one of the island’s premier goalies in the class of 2025. Walendowski is getting the nod as the starting goalie this year and comes off a stellar summer season at tournaments like the National Lacrosse Invitational. He’ll be taking over for 2022 graduate Jack Kern who had a remarkable 174 saves last year.
In addition to the loss of Kern, East Islip also graduated midfielder Gavin Herzog, defensemen Stephen DeAmicis and Nick Perone, and attackmen Ryan Bauco and Jason Fiorello. This will pave the way for young guns like Ethan Bernardos and Jack Kalinowski to have enhanced roles on the team this season.
Some of the biggest games on the schedule this season include league games against Class B opponents ESM (3/29), West Babylon (4/5), West Islip (4/18), Comsewogue (4/24), and Smithtown West (4/26), all fighting for playoff positioning. Their two non league games are against Smithtown East at home (3/24) and a trip to Westchester to take on Pelham (4/29).
