Glen Cove leans on defense

The Glen Cove girls’ soccer team, returning from a 4-9-2 season in 2017, are fully loaded with a senior-laden team with ample experience ready to tackle Nassau Conference AB-5.
The Lady Big Red return a mostly senior defensive crew, a group that has anchored the unit for years past. Maybe Glen Cove head coach Peter Falen’s only concern, however, is how, and more importantly, who, this team will rely on for offense after his defensive stalwarts have pushed the ball through midfield and into the opposing half.
“We have about 12-14 seniors returning for us this year, and lost about eight to graduation,” Falen said. “Unfortunately, of those eight, we lost our number one, two and three leading scorers. Most of the returners we have are defensive-minded players.”
Upon being asked who will be tasked with creating offense and netting goals for the Lady Big Red this season after losing players like Tatiana Guevara and Sienna Nicolich, Falen pointed to a pair of strikers. Senior Micaela Costello and junior Alessia Rodriguez both have key varsity experience from last season. “This year, we will look to them to score the majority of our goals,” Falen said.
“Last week we scrimmaged our JV team, and the varsity squad did not score,” Falen said. “I told them that if we’re having trouble scoring on our own JV team, we’re going to run in to issues…We need offense coming from new players.”

Of those aforementioned new players, Falen is excited for his first-year varsity center midfielder Tammy Perez to have a breakout season. “She is a very good distributor, and I am looking for her to have a big year,” Falen said.
Indeed, Glen Cove will constantly rely upon its defense to anchor its success, especially early on, but a defense with this much experience seems up to the task. Senior centre backs Ariana Greenberg and Lucy Costello play a huge role in stopping the progression of the opponent’s advancement towards the Glen Cove penalty box. Falen is very comfortable with these two working side by side, something the two are very familiar with. “They’ve been playing together since elementary school, and they’re our two big guns in front of Jaynise,” Falen said.
Jaynise Espinal, who Falen alluded to, is a four-year varsity goalkeeper that has been one of Glen Cove’s constants throughout its last few seasons. “She is one of our best players, she is a very solid goalie, very tough and very vocal,” Falen said. “Offensively we may be asking ourselves what we’re getting, but we know what we’re getting defensively and especially from (Jaynise).”
Glen Cove will test out its new offensive schemes and let the new leaders in the attacking half work out the kinks against Oyster Bay and Carle Place, two non-league but familiar foes. “We were 0-3 against this lot last year,” Falen said. “This is a senior team with a ‘last go around’ mentality. It’s translated into good work ethic in practice thus far, let’s see how this team responds in game play.”