Entering the top 15 of the LILJ top 24 preseason rankings are the Smithtown East Bulls. Last season they had a great run, going 10-6 in the regular season and winning two road playoff games each by a goal to get back to the county finals for the second consecutive season where their playoff run came to an end against Northport. They were a heavily senior filled team, but with some key players still part of the core, the Bulls hope that they give them a chance at a third straight appearance in the county finals.
This season the face of the Bulls offense begins with their sophomore lefty attackman Cameron James. He took the island by storm his freshman season as a goal scoring machine with 49 as well as 17 assists for 66 points. With the Bulls graduating their leading scorer from last year Ryan Rooney, as well as Bredan Marz, look for James to step into the role as the quarterback of the offense and be their top go-to scorer this year. In the senior class Giancarlo Pecorale (Lewis) adds to the attack and contributed with 16 points in 2023, and junior Brian Devlin could be in play for an increased role this season after seeing the field in a small sample size as a sophomore.
At midfield their leading scorer from last season among their returning players is junior Luke DiMaria (Drexel) with 28 points last spring, as well as starter Cole Milani (Geneseo) and Tim Kinahan. Taking the face-offs this season the Bulls have two returning FOGO’s in junior Brody Ritter and sophomore Cambell Cracchiola.
On the defensive end of the field they graduated multiple players in the 2023 class including Chris Trebing, Michael Devlin, and Johnny Terrana. Two of their key returning close defensemen are juniors Sean Pellegrino and Brody Bernhardt, and they will once again have phenomenal goaltending from junior Brendan Carroll (Drexel) who led all of Suffolk Class A in saves with 221 last year.
This season Smithtown East hopes to be right in the mix with the other Suffolk Class A contenders for another shot at playing deep into May.
