Tough ending for Lynbrook

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Lynbrook’s season came to an unexpected end in the opening round of the Nassau Class A girls’ soccer playoffs, courtesy of a former conference rival.

The fifth-seeded Lady Owls were stunned by No. 12 New Hyde Park, 5-1, Monday afternoon on the turf at Marion Street Elementary School. Sophomore Julia Aronov had one goal and three assists, and Tiffany Velin scored twice to lead the upset for the Lady Gladiators, who exploded for four goals in the first half.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Lynbrook coach Jen Dankenbrink said. “I don’t know what happened. We just didn’t play well.

“We had a good season,” she added. “We showed we could play with the best teams in Conference 1. We thought it would help us prepare for the playoffs, but we had a bad day.”

Last year, Lynbrook defeated New Hyde Park twice on the way to capturing the Conference 2 title, its second in a row, prompting a move to the top conference. The Lady Gladiators dropped to Conference 3 this fall and finished in second place with a 7-2-3 mark.

“It was an exciting game,” New Hyde Park coach Kim Teemsma said. “We played the best I’ve seen us play. We scouted Lynbrook last week and worked hard on defending their top scorers, and our offense was tremendous.”

Junior Gina Giovinco notched the lone goal for Lynbrook (4-7-4 overall), which battled conference champ and No. 1 playoff seed South Side to a draw in the regular-season finale on Oct. 18 and hadn’t lost by more than one goal since Sept. 19 at Garden City.

Giovinco’s tally came eight seconds after Marina Pappas gave New Hyde Park a 2-0 lead. MacKenzie Griffin opened the scoring at the 9:42 mark. “I thought once we scored, we’d keep it going,” Dankenbrink said. “For whatever reason, it just didn’t happen.”

The visitors made it 3-1 on Velin’s shot off the post. From Teemsma’s vantage point, the shot appeared to be sailing wide but made a last-second turn and clanged off the post and in. The margin increased to 4-1 with 5:16 remaining in the half on Velin’s second goal.

Despite senior standout Erin Loonie, Giovinco and sophomore Jade Fixon-Owoo applying consistent pressure, the Lady Owls couldn’t get anything else past New Hyde Park goalkeeper Samantha Petriello (five saves.) Aronov added a second-half goal, her 16th of the campaign, for the Lady Gladiators, who advanced to face No. 4 Manhasset in the quarterfinals.

The outcome marked the end of the high school soccer careers for seven Lady Owls, including Loonie, a four-year varsity performer who registered seven goals and three assists while serving as a captain this season. “Erin’s a playmaker and our backbone,” Dankenbrink said. “I’m sad I’m not coaching her and the rest of the seniors longer.”