Freeport gains playoff berth

The Freeport boys’ soccer team accomplished its goal of reaching the playoffs for the first time in three seasons with a late surge.

The Red Devils won their last three games to close the regular season and grab the seven seed in Class AAA. While the postseason run ended quickly with a 2-0 quarterfinal loss to deafening county champion Plainview JFK on Oct 25, fifth-year Freeport coach Craig Klasson came away from this season with plenty of pride in his program.

“We were definitely the underdogs going in but we gave them a real good battle and our guys never gave up and worked to the end,” Klasson said. “We see this as a special season making the playoffs and there is a lot to be proud of.”

Freeport finished 7-3-3 in Conference AAA and 8-4-3 overall. The three-game winning streak to close the regular season began with a 5-3 home win against East Meadow on Oct. 13 that featured three goals from junior Lucca Noboa and two by senior Jean Mejia. Sophomore goalkeeper Carlos Umanzor was also instrumental in the victory with seven saves.

The momentum continued for the Red Devils on Oct. 17 with 3-1 win at Valley Stream Central with goals from Israel Galicia and Yorman Villeda. Freeport then concluded the regular season with a commanding 7-0 home win against Academy Charter School two days later led by three goals and four assists from Mejia. 

The playoff defeat to Plainview JFK capped an illustrious career for Mejia, who finished his senior season with 14 goals and 11 assists to lead Conference AAA in points. The two-time All-County selection is getting recruited to play on the college level next fall.

“He’s going to be a big, big loss to our team and to our program,” said Klasson of Mejia. 

Klasson will also lose senior defenders Dylan Woodward and Marco Rosales, who were tri-captains with Noboa. Woodward and Rosales anchored a backline that recorded four shutouts.

Looking toward next season, Klassion hopes that Noboa is ready to take the baton from Mejia as a leading scorer for his senior campaign. He finished a standout junior season with nine goals and five assists.

“I definitely see him stepping up and he was already a captain this year so he's going to continue to definitely be a leader of our team,” said Klasson of Noboa. 

Freeport will lose seven seniors from the 2023 season, but Klasson hopes the winning culture laid by this team will create a solid foundation for another postseason appearance next fall.

“I've been coaching for a while now and this is definitely one season I'll never forget just because of the makeup of the team and the family aspect of it and the senior leadership,” Klasson said. “It’s always sad  to close a season, but this one in particular is tough, but that's also good because that means it was very memorable.”