Oceanside vies for playoff seed

With defending Nassau Class AA girls’ soccer champion Massapequa locking up the Conference I title and No. 1 seed in the playoffs, the race for second place is on between Oceanside, Farmingdale and Syosset.

Oceanside, which takes a five-game unbeaten streak into the regular-season finale at Farmingdale, needs to win for a chance at second place and a first-round bye in the playoffs.

“We don’t want to play an outbracket game if we don’t have to,” Lady Sailors coach Marianna Winchester said. “This last game is crucial for playoff seeding.”

As the No. 3 seed in last year’s playoffs, Oceanside reached the semifinals where it came up short in overtime against East Meadow. With a 6-3-2 record in conference play and on a roll since a 5-0 loss to Massapequa on Oct. 6, the Lady Sailors have a chance to take the next step.

“I don’t think the second game against Massapequa showed how close the gap is,” Winchester said. “We had a number of girls injured or sick and they took advantage of every scoring opportunity.”

Winchester has seen nothing but positive results since the loss. Oceanside rolled over Uniondale, Freeport twice, and Hempstead, and also earned a 1-1 tie at Syosset Oct. 14 thanks to a goal by senior Amanda Margolis off an assist from senior Vanessa Cornacchio.

“We created a lot of chances against Syosset,” Winchester said. “They scored first, but we came back less than two minutes later to tie it. It was probably the most exciting game we’ve had all year even though it was played in heavy rain.”

Syosset goalie Cassie Bentancourt made 17 saves, while Oceanside senior Jessica Kambic turned aside 11 shots.  Kambic hasn’t allowed a goal in three games since and has seven shutouts on the year. “Jessica couldn’t be more consistent,” Winchester said.