Plenty of tests for South Side

Shannon McEntee is all about capitalizing on opportunities.

The coach for powerhouse South Side girls’ soccer has taken her team to a .500 start in non-league play, with losses to equally strong squads in St. Anthony’s (2-1) and Massapequa (5-1), which she said were mainly about her players coming up short on several scoring chances.  

“Massapequa is always a competitive team, and they finished their opportunities, and we learned that we need to finish ours,” said McEntee, who has led South Side to three county and Long Island championships and two state titles during her first six seasons at the helm.

Senior goalie Kayla Klarides, a third-year starter, still had 12 saves in the Massapequa defeat, and Alex McNicholas recorded the Lady Cyclones’ lone goal in the game, taking on a defender one-on-one and perfectly planted the ball in the corner of the net. “She had an absolutely beautiful goal against Massapequa,” McEntee said.

McNicholas and sophomore Alex Chruma, the team’s key offensive duo, were the top scorers in victories over Sacred Heart (3-1) and Oceanside (6-2) to open the season.

South Side came out full of energy and finished their scoring opportunities against Sacred Heart in which Chruma had two goals, and the Lady Cyclones played a tight game against the Sailors before pulling away deep in the second half, with McNicholas netting three goals. Sophomore Olivia Rodriguez, a versatile player on defense and offense, came off the bench and added a goal at game’s end. 

St. Anthony’s handed South Side its first loss of the young season on a last-minute goal. McEntee said she wanted to see how her players compared against the Catholic league powerhouse, which plays a similar high-energy game as her senior-led squad. Junior Jolie Creo had South Side’s lone goal.

“Obviously, we’d like to go without a loss, but losses are still learning experiences and we’d rather get them out of the way earlier before league play starts as they factor into playoffs,” McEntee said.

South Side’s first league game against Manhasset, which beforehand McEntee called “a good test for us,” ended in a scoreless tie. Klarides and Manhasset goalie Nadia Sbuttoni matched each other with three saves.

“Kayla’s been doing a good job for us so far, and in tough games she’s making big saves,” McEntee said.

At 2-2-1, South Side will see both new and very familiar league faces down the road. Lynbrook is a newcomer to conference A-I that McEntee expects will prove to be a potentially tough test because the Lady Cyclones haven’t seen them in years. And then, of course, there are also dual regular season matches against longtime rival Garden City, who the Lady Cyclones have also faced in the county finals the past six seasons.

“We have to finish every opportunity that we have,” McEntee said about what the team must do to return to the counties. “We’re really great at creating opportunities. Now we just need to lock in the games by finishing them off.”