East Islip boys lacrosse's Grant Weiss leads defensive effort in quarterfinal win vs. Smithtown West
East Islip celebrates as time expires in its Suffolk Class B quarterfinal victory against Smithtown West on Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Islip Terrace. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
In both 2024 and 2025, East Islip’s boys lacrosse team left the spring with a county title, each won on its home turf — East Islip Middle School’s Sal Ciampi Field at Boomer Esiason Stadium.
That won’t happen this spring, with Stony Brook University set to host the county final. East Islip played its final home game of the season Thursday on the field that birthed many memorable victories. Once again, East Islip emerged triumphant.
No. 4 East Islip held on to beat No. 5 Smithtown West, 5-4, in the quarterfinals of Suffolk’s Class B playoffs. Grant Weiss, one of just six seniors for East Islip (9-8), starred defensively with four caused turnovers to help book his team’s date at top-seeded Smithtown East Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. It’ll be East Islip’s first Suffolk playoff game on the road since May 2023.
“It feels awesome,” Weiss said. “But it’s one step, though, to win a county title. This isn’t everything for us. We want to win a county title and hopefully, a state championship.”
Weiss, Colin Cairney, Jason McAdam and Kristian Burnett led a defense that held Smithtown West (8-9) to a season-low goal total. East Islip goalie Luke Rochford made seven saves.
Smithtown West had the ball inside the final minute before a pass failed to connect. Burnett jumped on the play and won the ground ball, leading East Islip coach Tom Zummo to call timeout with 15.7 seconds left.
Zummo praised Burnett as someone who stepped up after starter Justin Manfredi suffered a torn ACL earlier in the season.
“Going from a sophomore playing varsity for the first time to being our No. 1 guy, he’s been incredible,” Zummo said.
After an East Islip turnover, Smithtown West’s Matt Salmieri managed to get a shot off in the final seconds, but McAdam’s body deflected it wide.
“Our coaches did a great job preparing us,” Weiss said of the defense. “It felt like we had the answers to the test before we even stepped on the field today, so all we had to do was execute.”
Smithtown West’s Luke Brown and Tyler Gelfand impressed as on-ball defenders. Jack Cavanagh’s interception on an East Islip pass at midfield led him to score with 2:35 left to cut the deficit to one.
FINAL: East Islip holds on to win, 5-4, over Smithtown West.
— Michael Sicoli (@Michael__Sicoli) May 21, 2026
Story to come. See the final play here. Razor-thin finish. pic.twitter.com/SiGLQSNkXD
Highlights from East Islip v Smithtown West:
— Michael Sicoli (@Michael__Sicoli) May 22, 2026
SW’s Luke Brown punishes the slip.
EI’s Sean Hannigan’s excellent feed met by a clean finish from Cody Stebbins
EI’s Owen Madden recovers from a slip and scores
SW’s Cole Jurman finds Colin Murphy for a low shot pic.twitter.com/CXUERtaT8n
“I’ve known their families forever,” Smithtown West coach Matt Schultz said of the senior class. “It’s going to be the toughest thing, saying goodbye to the seniors, for sure.”
Sean Hannigan’s goal with 9:27 left served as the winner for East Islip, kick-started by Zack Duryee’s ground ball just outside his own crease. Duryee took it end-to-end and flipped it to Hannigan. Owen Madden scored two goals.
It wasn’t the prettiest win — Zummo joked that he should “fire himself as the offensive coach” — but East Islip defended its home turf all the same with what Weiss called “a really special group.”
“It’s another week with some of my best friends,” Weiss said. “I’m just so excited to be back on the field.”
Michael Sicoli covers high school sports for Newsday. He graduated from Quinnipiac in 2022 and left with a master’s degree in sports journalism in 2023.
