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For 12 years, West Islip’s Nick Galasso was on top of Long Island’s lacrosse mountain as the all-time career points leader.
But on Tuesday night, Mount Sinai’s Joey Spallina passed Galasso with point 501 to become Long Island’s new points king.
“The record is awesome,” Joey tells GreaterPortJeff. “But the best part about it was being able to achieve it while winning a county championship as a team none of the individual goals matter without team success.”
Joey, who plays attack, scored three goals to go with five assists in the top-seeded Mustang’s 16-5 win over No. 2 Shoreham-Wading River in the Suffolk County Class C final.
Here’s him breaking the record, courtesy of News 12’s Kevin Maher:
After the game, Joey received many congratulatory texts and calls. One call, was from Galasso himself.
“It was great for Nicky to reach out to Joey and congratulate him,” said Joey’s father Joe Spallina, who coaches lacrosse professionally.”They know each other well with Nicky playing on the New York Lizards for me. Everyone sees the player on the field but the amount of work he puts on when no one is watching whether it be 5 a.m. daily lifts and runs or shooting after practices, it’s what makes him different”
For the season, Joey has 76 goals and 88 assists, tops in Suffolk, per Newsday.
What makes Joey’s scoring record even more remarkable is that he lost a season due to the pandemic in 2020.
The Mustangs will defend their Long Island title against Manhasset or South Side Saturday at Hofstra University.
Joey, the No. 1 high school recruit in the country, will play for Syracuse in the fall.
Top: Senior attack Joey Spallina pushes past a Shoreham-Wading River defender. (Credit: Desirée Keegan/Axcess Sports)
