Weather wins in Hewlett-VSS tie

The first half of Friday’s Nassau Conference A-III girls’ soccer game between Valley Stream South and Hewlett was played under sunny skies at Ogden Elementary School and featured a few quality scoring chances for each side but no goals.

In the second half, Mother Nature dominated. Numerous lightning strikes and a steady downpour of rain forced officials to end the important matchup 36 minutes prematurely, giving each team a tie in the standings.

Freshman goalkeeper Sammy Jo Shanahan made two saves for Valley Stream South (2-4-2), while junior Sarah Herzberg turned aside two shots from close range for Hewlett (2-2-4), which posted a fourth straight shutout.

Both teams remain in playoff contention and control their own destiny.

“We have a shot to make playoffs,” VSS coach Dina Viskovich said. “We just want to keep learning and improving game by game."

Said Hewlett coach Gil Kreiss: “We’re definitely aiming to make the playoffs. The ball movement today was better. We’re starting to get healthy and I think the flow will start to get better as a result.”