Hewlett at .500 in conference play

Hewlett settled for a split of its first six Conference V girls’ soccer games after dropping a soggy 2-1 decision to visiting Plainedge last Friday. Jennifer Lindsay converted a pass from Danielle Pigott with 18 minutes remaining to win a game originally scheduled to be played at Eastplain Elementary School but moved to the Lady Bulldogs’ turf field due to poor weather conditions.

“We hoped to surprise either Plainedge or Bethpage with a win or a tie, but we came up a little short each time,” Hewlett coach Gil Kreiss said. “But we proved we belong on the same field. Beating one of them the second time around is one of our goals.”

Since the site of the first meeting was changed, the Lady Bulldogs will travel to Plainedge on Oct. 21 to complete the home-and-home series. It leaves them with just two home games remaining, Thursday against Malverne/East Rockaway and Oct. 26 against 13-time defending county champion
South Side.

Sophomore forward Val DeNapoli scored Hewlett’s lone goal against Plainedge off a header in close after she followed up a deflection of a shot from sophomore midfielder Jessica Seigal, who created the opportunity by outracing a defender to a loose ball. Junior Samara Yegelwel, one of three goalkeepers Kreiss has called upon already, made nine saves.

“I think this game is a confidence builder even though we lost,” Kreiss said. “We held our own against a team that lost 1-0 to South Side.”

Hewlett (4-3 overall) was coming off a victory over cross-town rival Lawrence, 6-0, on Sept. 28. Senior Ricki Stumacher scored twice, while senior Dani Kandell and juniors Kate Fine, Meri Oshrain and Taylor Nortman also scored. Sophomore Cori Hoberman, who has played at forward and midfield, got the assignment in net and picked up the shutout.

Hoberman filled in nicely at center-midfield against Plainedge in place of senior Alex Gioia, who is out indefinitely after suffering a concussion in a collision in a 2-0 loss to Bethpage on Sept. 23. Gioia moved to join Kandel, a fixture in the middle, after playing outside in recent seasons. Seigel, senior Natalie Herzberg and junior Rachel Madigan have worked the majority of minutes on the outside this year. Two freshmen—Gabrielle Schwartz and Emily Cohen—are contributing up front.

Defensively, sophomore Ivy Greenbaum and senior Liz Emmert have been solid at sweeper and stopper, respectively, and Stumacher heads a group of fullbacks that includes Oshrain and fellow junior Sami Schechter. Stumacher is one of a handful of players the coach can use practically anywhere on the field. “Ricki is one of the best in the county when it comes to marking an opponent one-on-one,” Kreiss said of Stumacher, who leads the team in goals with three.

In goal, Yegelwel and sophomore Sarah Herzberg split time in 2009 and that was the plan again until the latter went down with a shoulder injury. With no timetable for Herzberg’s return, Yegelwel takes over on a full-time basis.