Penalty kicks lift Mepham over Carey

Emotions ran high last Friday afternoon as Carey traveled to Mepham to take on the second-place Pirates in a Nassau Conference III boys’ soccer game.

Mepham took full advantage of two penalty kick opportunities, which contributed to a commanding four-goal lead. Carey netted two late goals to cut the deficit in half, but the Pirates held on to win, 4-2.

Things got a bit chippy late in the game, as Carey (0-9-2), which has yet to win a conference game this year, was handed three yellow cards on three separate occasions during the waning minutes.

“We were in the exact same position [as Carey] last year,” Mepham coach James Koester said. “We had won one game all year, and we didn’t act like that in one of our last games of the season because we were frustrated.”

Mepham (7-3-1) wasted no time getting on the board, as sophomore Harley Hosty put one past Carey goaltender Christopher Agugliaro a four minutes into the game. Just over one minute later, junior Stephen Polimeni fired a shot into the top corner of the goal to make it 2-0.

Later in the half, junior Charlie Muscarella was awarded a penalty kick after being tripped in the goal box, and promptly put the free kick into the back of the net to make it 3-0. 

Yet another Carey penalty in its own goal box gave Mepham another penalty kick in the second half, and, this time, junior Fermin Sorto put it past the keeper to extend the Pirates’ lead to four.

Koester then removed many of his starters from the game, including goaltender Steve Fotinos, who allowed zero goals on two shots.

Carey took advantage of the substitutions, and junior Scott Liuzzo put his team on the board after scoring off of his own rebound. They added one more goal with six minutes remaining, but it wasn’t enough to get Carey into the win column.

“I’m trying to get our starters off the field to get them a break,” said Koester. “I was a little bit annoyed at the reserves. They let up two goals and I had to put the starters back in. Overall, it’s a good win for us. We’re a pretty confident group right now.”

Mepham currently sits in second place in Conference III, nine points behind Great Neck South. Carey, meanwhile, sits in last place with two points.

“Injuries have held us back all season,” Carey coach Matt Princi said. “We have a lot of work to do going into next year.”

Mepham, which has sealed up a playoff berth, is riding a three-game winning streak and will try to continue playing well in the postseason.

“I think we could beat any team,” Muscarella said.