Nick West Has 26 Goals at Messiah

Nick West, a former East Hampton High School soccer star, scored his 25th and 26th goals of the season Sunday as Messiah College, for which he plays, defeated Johns Hopkins 2-0 in a second-round National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III playoff game.

These were the first goals in four games for the East Hampton striker, who earlier in the season scored in 15 straight games (smashing a Messiah record and tying a national D-III one), a span during which he was not only D-III’s high-scorer, but the high-scorer in the nation no matter the division, a category in which he continues to contend.

“Nick’s a team player,” Don McGovern, one of his coaches here, said over the weekend. “When he’s double-teamed he passes off.”

West had two assists in a 5-0 shutout of Baruch College in the first round. Messiah, whose record stands at 16-0-3, and the State University at Cortland are to play a third-round match Saturday.