Dimotsis' late goal gives Smithtown West tie
Smithtown West Chris Dimotsis #12 celebrates with team mates after scoring the tying goal in the second half. (Oct. 13, 2010) Credit: George A. Faella
Smithtown West's Chris Dimotsis said he could feel the intensity picking up as his team trailed by a goal with the clock winding down the final minutes of the second half of yesterday's game with East Islip.
"The adrenaline pumping through you - you want to keep going," Dimotsis said, "Get your goal."
In the 75th minute Dimotsis got his goal.
Smithtown West's Eddie Viscount went up the left sideline and crossed the ball to Craig Jahnke. He laid the ball off to Dimotsis, who buried a shot to the far post past East Islip's Evan Maxwell with 5:56 remaining in the second half to tie it at 1.
Jahnke nearly won the game for the Bulls with 10 seconds remaining in the second overtime, but his header off a cross by Viscount went outside. East Islip also had chances to win in the second overtime, registering three shots on goal, but it failed to find the net and the teams played to a 1-1 tie in the Suffolk League III game.
"The second overtime we really put the pressure on," East Islip coach Ray Lang said, "which shows the character we have; we could've stopped - we kept going."
As their defenses became increasingly fatigued during the overtime periods, the goalkeepers - Brian Hickey for Smithtown West and Maxwell for East Islip - stepped up their play. Hickey finished with eight saves, and Maxwell had seven.
After a scoreless first half, East Islip (6-4-1, 5-3-1) took the lead 8:30 into the second half when Chad Murray scored his third goal of the season on a cross from the outside by Kyle Knoth.
"We had a different strategy first half, [it] went according to what we wanted," Smithtown West coach Tom Lipps said. "We had just one mistake on the outside and it cost us."
Lipps thought his team looked "lethargic" until late in the second half. The Bulls did not register a shot on goal in the second half until the 25th minute.
"It's their home field, they played like the home team today, and we did what we had to do to survive," Lipps said.
Smithtown West (10-0-1, 8-0-1) remains at the top of the League III standings. Lipps knows there is a proverbial target on the back of the Bulls.
"It's just a bigger bull's-eye," he said.
