West Hempstead topped in OT

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It was a valiant effort, but in the end the West Hempstead boys saw their soccer season come to an abrupt halt as Floral Park found the back of the net in the eighth minute of sudden death overtime to take a 1-0 victory in a Nassau Class A outbracket match last Friday.

Sophomore Daniel Schaeffer’s goal, his first of the season, a header off a corner kick from junior R.J Lascala, was the game’s lone tally. The Knights advanced to the round of 16, where they were beaten by Garden City. 

The Rams had registered back-to-back shutout victories over Wheatley and Malverne/East Rockaway to earn a berth in the outbracket game. The loss marked the second consecutive season that saw West Hempstead (6-6-2 overall, 5-5-1 in Conference ABC3) fall in overtime of a play-in game. 

Head coach Chris Van Kovics saw the final game as a microcosm of the season. “If you’re constantly playing it close to the vest, you’re going to be in difficult situations,” Van Kovics said. “You’re always going to be playing under pressure. We just had a lot of trouble scoring goals, so the games were always tight. When you play like that, one mistake can mean the game. That’s basically how it was for us all season long. We had a few opportunities in this one, we just couldn’t capitalize.”

West Hempstead certainly had chances to score. The Rams hit the crossbar twice, and also clanged a shot off the post during regulation time. Floral Park’s Ryan Callaghan and Rams’ goalkeeper Bobby Smith each recorded six saves.  

“Bobby was great for us all year,” Van Kovics said. “He was injured last year, so getting him back healthy was a big plus for us. He made a lot of point blank saves, and kept us in nearly every one of our games. Bobby really played well for us.”

As expected, the key to West Hempstead’s success was its defense. The Rams yielded just 11 goals in their 11 league matches. Junior sweeper Jason Criollo, junior stopper Steven DiMarco, and senior left back Diego Cornelio were the backbone of a solid defensive unit that helped Smith earn four shutouts. 

West Hempstead had four players receive postseason awards. Senior captain Carmine Fuschetto, who led the team with five assists, earned All-County honors, while junior Fabricio Barbosa, the team’s leading scorer with six goals and two assists, picked up All-County Honorable Mention. Both were All-Conference recipients in 2013. In addition, Smith and senior captain Robert Grogan were named All-Conference honorees.

Van Kovics had a positive overall assessment of the season. “This was a good group, and we have a good core returning,” he said. “The seniors were part of teams that went to the playoffs four straight seasons. We’re going to miss them. I’m happy with the effort the team gave. They followed the blueprint, and put themselves in position to be successful.”