Freeport establishing winning ways

Freeport’s girls’ soccer team is shooting for a winning season with a new leader on the sidelines.
Mark Andrejack took the helm of the Red Devils this season after previously leading Freeport’s JV girls program. He inherited a squad that lost plenty of seniors, but the 2023 club is embracing a fresh start that has already matched its wins total from last fall when Freeport finished 4-10-1.
“We lost a lot of seniors, but we still had some big producers and very key role players coming back so I was really looking for them to create their own identity and separate themselves from last year,” said Andrejack, who previously coached much of the team on JV. “Their team chemistry was incredible from the start and I’m really impressed with how they’ve created their own identity as a team and seem to get better every day.”
Senior midfielder Allison Caceres has been a key leader in driving a winning culture at Freeport as a co-captain and field general of the offense. She tallied a goal and assist in Freeport’s season-opening 5-1 win at Malverne-East Rockaway on Sept. 7.
“She’s great at distributing the ball and is always drawing attention from the defense, which opens up a lot of things,” said Andrejack of Caceres. 

One of the players Caceres looks to feed is senior forward Brianne Belizaire, who scored twice in the Malverne-East Rockaway win and tallied the lone goal in a 1-0 victory against Hempstead on Sept. 14. Freshman striker Sabrina Ligonde is also showing promise early in the season, tallying a goal and an assist in Freeport’s 3-0 home win against Malverne-East Rockaway on Monday. 
The victory Monday, which improved Freeport to a 4-3 record, also featured goals from Ashley Zavala assisted by Ligonde and Maria Portela off a pass from Rosalinda Amaya. 
The defense is anchored by senior co-captain Cassie Smith, who patrols the backline with her younger sister Ava Smith, a sophomore. 
“She is an incredible defender,” said Andrejack of Cassie Smith, who is a four-year starter. “Not much if anything will get past her.”
The Freeport backline has pitched three shutouts and nearly achieved another clean sheet on Sept. 19 in a 1-0 loss to Sewankaka in which the Red Devils surrendered the winning goal with just 21 seconds remaining. Sophomore goalie Sonia Chavez recorded five saves in the Sewankaha heartbreaker and seven stops in a 3-0 setback at Roosevelt on Sept. 12.
“She has been making a lot of progress and improvements,” said Andrejack of Chavez, who was starting goalie on JV last year. 
The Red Devils are next in action on Thursday for a home rematch with Roosevelt at 5 p.m. and then will visit Hempstead on Saturday for a 10 a.m. kickoff. 
“They have a good understanding of what we’re capable of and what we’re trying to do as a team,” Andrejack said. “The key for us is going to be remaining consistent.”