Floyd's Julian Duque has evolved in 4 years as a goal scorer

Julian Duque has always been a goal scorer.

The Floyd senior, a fixture on the attack unit since his freshman year, has been the Colonials top scorer each of the last three seasons and this year he also leads all of Suffolk.

"Julian has really evolved," Floyd coach Desmond Megna said. "In past years he was a pure off the ball cutter and he could handle it inside and had a quick release. Now, he can score multiple ways — he’s developed as a dodger and he can pull the trigger from deep and in my opinion he’s the best inside guy in the county."

Duque has 50 goals in games through Friday. He had 49 as a sophomore and scored 34 as a freshman.

"We’ve had Julian this group up together since they were freshmen," Megna said. That includes offensive threat Jake Taylor (32 goals, 30 assists), do-it-all midfielder Nick Muelthaler and Jezayd Hall, one of the top faceoff specialists in the nation.

Megna knows his team isn’t talked about among the blue bloods of Suffolk Division I lacrosse, but his team has a chance to be ‘the best of the rest’ and secure the program’s first playoff berth since 2011.

11 Suffolk A teams will make the playoffs this season and as of Friday Floyd was 10th in the power rankings with a 6-5 record.

"We’ve been building our way up," Megna said. "We’re always kind of scrapping and we want to take it one step at a time and [earn a playoff spot.]"

Recap of the week

With only a week left before the end of the regular season the teams at the top of Suffolk I are all trying to make sure they finish top five and receive a bye into the quarterfinals.

Four close games Thursday will go a long way towards sorting it out.

Danny Caddigan capped a seven-goal fourth quarter for Smithtown West (9-2) as the Bulls came back to win 9-8 over Sachem North (4-7). West trailed 7-2 entering the quarter.

Jack Helrigel scored his second goal of the game in overtime to lead Northport (8-3), 9-8, over Sachem East. Luke Mangan had five goals for Sachem East (5-6).

Marcus Werthheim had four goals and two assists as Smithtown East (8-3) handed Huntington (10-1) its first loss of the season, 9-7.

And in a battle of top five teams, Ward Melville’s Kevin Dolan had three goals and three assists as the Patriots (9-2) defeated Bay Shore, 9-8. Nate Nagenast scored six goals for Bay Shore (8-2).

By Gene Morris

gene.morris@newsday.comGeneMorris

Gene Morris joined Newsday's sports department in September 2012 and covers high school sports. He earned a journalism degree from Stony Brook University in 2010.