Curley's unassisted OT goal boosts ESM

For Ryan Curley, isolation turned to celebration. One-on-one turned into 30-on-one.

Curley spun away from a defender behind the net, curled around the crease and scored an unassisted goal 1:09 into overtime to give Eastport-South Manor an 11-10 victory over host Bayport-Blue Point Friday in a Suffolk Division II boys lacrosse game. Curley was then swarmed by 30 or so teammates.

"Coach called an isolation for me. The defenseman overplayed me to the right, so I faked left and went back to the right,'' Curley said. "I wanted to put it in the net, but if a teammate was open, I would have made the pass.''

Curley's goal came after Sharks coach Kevin Huff called timeout. "We got the ball back and I wanted to see if we had something in transition,'' Huff said. "Sometimes what the kids do out there is better than what you can diagram. But when we stopped, I called timeout. We have two top players . I thought we'd be better from behind the cage and Curley is better from behind. Alan is better up top.''

The hard-shooting Henderson scored three goals and added two assists as the Sharks went on a 7-0 scoring frenzy spanning the first and second quarters after spotting the Phantoms a 3-0 lead. Henderson won several faceoffs during that spurt while contributing all of his goals and one of his assists. Tyler Aki scored two of his four goals in the second quarter.

"Usually, it's our game to jump on them early,'' Curley said. "But coach called a timeout after it was 3-0 and then we started executing. We forced turnovers and the shots started falling.''

Bayport-Blue Point, the top-seeded Class C team in Suffolk while ESM is third among the Class B schools, rallied behind sophomore attack Brian Ward (three goals, five assists). Ward fed Adam Berlin in the first minute of the fourth quarter and then made a spectacular solo dash from the end line for an unassisted goal a minute later to cut the Sharks' lead to 9-8. Aki scored on a low bouncer from up top for a two-goal cushion.

SEE PHOTOSEastport-South Manor 11, Bayport-Blue Point 10

But Brian White twice found Michael DeBlasio for goals 24 seconds apart to tie it with 4:34 left. Both teams had chances in regulation but could not finish.

In the first minute of overtime, DeBlasio took a pass from White, but shot wide. Seconds later, the iso man delivered.

"I called Ryan's number because he's a good decision maker with speed, quickness and quick hands," Huff said. "He made a play.''

One he never made before. "My first game-winning goal,'' Curley said. His smile was pretty quick, too.