Epoch Game of the Week: Comsewogue Improves to 3-0 with 14-8 win over East Islip

This week our Epoch Game of the Week featured the Comsewogue Warriors and the East Islip Redmen on East Islip’s turf. It was the Warriors that gained control of the game from the second quarter onward en route to a 14-8 win. The trio of Michael Katz, James Krieg and Justin Bonacci that powered them to their third win of the season. Here’s the recap of how they were able to come away victorious.

The game began as a defensive battle with both teams only allowing one goal in the first quarter. The second quarter saw Matthew Mcintee attack the cage and score to give East Islip a 2-1 lead. Comsewogue quickly answered as Dylan Rocchio split two defenders and scored to tie the game at two. They followed that up by taking their first game with a sniper by James Krieg for his first goal on the day. Two minutes later Michael Katz scored what might have been the highlight of the game as he came from X and scored with his back to the cage while in the air. The Warriors scored one more goal by Justin Bonacci to cap off a run of four unanswered goals and take a 5-2 lead. East Islip’s Ryan Bauco stemmed the tide, scoring a stinger on the run cut the deficit to 5-3, but the Warriors capped off the first half with a transition goal in the closing seconds by Katz off of the assist by Bonacci. After the first two quarters of play it was Comsewogue who held a 6-3 lead. In the third quarter East Islip got on the board first to cut the deficit back to two with a goal from Jason Fiorello that was assisted by Ryan Parker. However each time the Redmen tried to build some momentum the Warriors had an answer to ground their lead. Comsewogue countered with four straight goals in the quarter to build a lead of six goals. The three-headed monster of Katz, Krieg and Bonnaci spearheaded the run to make it a 10-4 lead late in the third quarter. Parker added his second goal of the quarter to bring East Islip within five and were looking for one more goal to end the quarter, but stop by goalie Adam Wachholder kept Comsewogue up five going into the fourth quarter. The final 12 minutes were controlled by the Warriors and they took their largest lead of the game by scoring the first two goals to open up the fourth quarter go ahead 12-5. Defensively Comsewogue made big plays particularly when they played man down due to penalties and managed to keep East Islip from taking advantage. The rest of quarter saw East Islip outscore Comsewogue 3-2, but the lead for the Warriors held up and they came away with a 14-8 win. The three Epoch Players of the Game were Katz, Krieg and Bonacci  as they engineered the offense throughout the game. The Warriors are now 3-0 on the season and will look for their fourth win when they play at Mt. Sinai April 8th. East Islip drops to 2-3 and will go for their third win when they play against Rocky Point also on April 8th.