Olivia Bozzo has three goals and an assist in Smithtown East's win over Smithtown West in non-league opener

Olivia Bozzo had two very different experiences in her first two varsity seasons. As a freshman, Smithtown East made the Suffolk Class AA final. Last year, the Bulls failed to make the playoffs. With high goals this season, Bozzo is determined to be a key piece in a championship team.

She and her Smithtown East teammates couldn’t have started much better on Tuesday.

The junior midfielder had three goals and an assist as Smithtown East defeated host Smithtown West, 4-1, in its opening non-league girls soccer match on Tuesday afternoon. Smithtown West is 1-1.

“Coming from my freshman year [and] making the county finals and not even making the playoffs the next year, it definitely hurt,” Bozzo said. “We don’t want that feeling again, so we’re going to put in the time and we’re going to do it this year.”

Bozzo got Smithtown East on the board first with a lefty strike from 25 yards out with 1:10 left in the opening half. She took a touch off a long throw-in, made a turn, and fired with her off foot to the top of the net.

“I saw the space opening and I knew I wanted it,” Bozzo said. “I knew our whole team wanted it. It’s hard to go into a half 0-0. I saw the space and I saw it open and I just took the shot and I got it. It felt amazing.”

Mallory Anderson bent a shot from the left side of the field into the top-right corner of the net to give Smithtown East a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the second half. It was the first of three goals over 5:18. Anderson found Bozzo with a through ball to create a breakaway goal, followed by Bozzo nailing a 25-yard goal with her left foot off the crossbar to take a 4-0 lead with 30:35 left in the second half.

“We knew this was one of our biggest games,” Anderson said. “We played them in the county finals two years ago and lost, so this game was more than just personal for us. It was everything. We all came together and we really wanted it more and it showed.”

Madison Kelly was integral to Smithtown East’s victory, saving the first 10 shots she faced before Smithtown West’s Julia Trama scored with 2:36 left in the second half.

“We had to win,” Kelly said. “We had to die for the ball, that’s what we were saying before the game. That we had to die for this win, we needed it.”

“She came up huge,” coach Danielle Knecht said. “She’s probably the reason we stayed in it as long as we did and, once we were able to capitalize, then we were good. But she kept us in this game, 100%.”

Smithtown East is a part of the state’s first AAA classification and figures to be in the mix for a Suffolk Class AAA championship. The Bulls will have tough competition from teams like Ward Melville, Commack, Connetquot and Northport, but they believe this could be their first county crown since 2010.

“It’s really exciting to have a big win like this and it’s just a great way to start our season,” Anderson said. It shows we really are unstoppable.”

And Bozzo is a key to making that possible.

“To see her and know she’s also just a junior, it shows what amazing things are yet to come,” Knecht said. “She has so much to look forward to and we have so much to look forward to with her as a team as well.”