Carey's thrilling playoff run ends

When the Nassau Class A boys’ soccer playoffs began last month, there was perhaps no coach in the county who had more confidence in his team than Carey’s Matt Princi.

The Seahawks battled injuries all season long, and, as the No. 18 (lowest) seed, had to get through an “outbracket” game just to work their way into the round of 16. But Princi believed that his group, when healthy, was as talented as any team in the bracket. A deep run in the playoffs, he said, would come as no surprise.

Princi was spot on. First, the Seahawks got over their first hurdle with a 2-0 win over West Hempstead in the play-in game, and then things started to get interesting. Convincing upset victories over No. 2 Plainedge and No. 7 Great Neck North brought Carey within a game of playing for the Class A championship.

But dreams of county supremacy came to an abrupt halt when the Seahawks fell to No. 6 Floral Park, 4-2, last Friday night in the semifinal round at Farmingdale College. Carey led 2-0 at the half, but the Knights got two goals from Luke DeArmas and one each from Lorenzo Arrindel and Jonathan Ferone to get the win.

Princi gave all the credit to Floral Park. “They came out in the second half and raised their level of play,” he said. “They responded very well. We didn’t change anything that we were doing. For my guys, this was their time competing in the playoffs. I think being here before helped Floral Park. Their veteran experience showed in the second half.”

Things looked extremely promising for the Seahawks, who got goals from Nick Acquafredda and Vince Matozzo in the opening half. In addition, the Knights started the second half playing a man down, but they took advantage of their opportunities and put up the four unanswered tallies.

Carey, which finished with a record of 10-4-3, had one of the more memorable playoff runs in recent history. After barely making the postseason cut and gutting out the win in the preliminary round, the Seahawks were expected by few to advance to the quarterfinals.

Goals from Acquafredda, Andrew Higgins, Carlos Llamosa and Sean Reddy gave the team the 4-1 upset victory over Plainedge on Oct. 23. In its 5-0 rout of Great Neck North four days later, Matozzo, Higgins, Llamosa, Reddy, and Chris Maggi all found the back of the net. 

Acquafredda was named an All-County honoree. Matozzo, who finished with 10 goals and nine assists, earned All-County Honorable Mention. Reddy, Nick Sivilli and Dom Brusca picked up All-Conference recognition.

I’m very proud of what the team accomplished, and I’m very optimistic about next season,” Princi said. “To get within 40 minutes of going to the county final is something special. The program hadn’t gone this far in 10 years.

“The future looks good for us,” he added. “We have a great junior class coming back, some very talented sophomores and some strong players from a JV team that played very well this season.”