You might never know that Sophie Marino knows how to skate, let alone wield a hockey stick, unless you got to know the lone female member of the Long Beach High School hockey team.
Marino, 17, a senior and one of the squad’s two goalies, spent all of 2024 learning to skate, because she didn’t know how. She became a regular at the public sessions at the city’s Municipal Ice Arena, and practiced crossovers and T-pushes on synthetic ice in her backyard on West Chester Street. Marino said it took her 10 months to gain speed on the ice, and the confidence to play.
“Being so behind in the sport, learning how to skate and believing in myself was a challenge,” she said.
Playing goalie isn’t new to the Marino family. Sophie’s older brother, Matt, 19, a sophomore at Binghamton University, was a goalie for the LBHS team from 2019 to 2023. In the backyard last year, he and his sister worked on puck tracking, angles and “playing the post.” With Sophie in the net, Matt would fire pucks at her.
When she wasn’t on the ice, Sophie would watch the high school team’s practices and games, getting a feel for how the sport flowed. She studied then starting goalie Patrick Riley to learn the position.
Head varsity coach Robert Carson said that Marino’s greatest strengths derive from her background as a gymnast, saying it’s a “driving force” in her ability to play goalie. She has been a competitive gymnast since 2017, and is a member of the LBHS varsity gymnastics team.
“She doesn’t flinch,” Carson said. “She’s very competitive, has the flexibility to play in net. Her hand-eye coordination is great, and she has great reaction time and speed.”
He added that she is always eager to improve, and is a good teammate. “Her attitude is her greatest strength,” Carson said. “Above everything else, she wants the team to win.”
This season, which began in November, Marino has played in six games, including her first start on Dec. 19, against Half Hollow Hills. It came as a result of an injury to starting goalie Justin Mele. In Long Beach High’s 6-5 win, Marino recorded 18 saves.
Her brother Matt, who was on hand for the game, said she “looked like a real goalie.” He explained that her “butterfly” — when a goalie goes down on her knees as the puck approaches the net — was great, and she has the “angles” of an experienced goalie.
“The other team was shocked,” Matt said. “Her own team was shocked. When she started [learning the sport] last year, she looked like she couldn’t skate.”
The high school team is looking to improve on last year’s finish as runner-up in the state championships, after a run that included a Nassau County championship loss to Bellmore-Merrick. This season the squad sits atop the county’s Conference I with a record of 12-2-l. “We’re just looking to improve from last year,” Carson said.
Marino’s presence has given the team a boost, after it went through last year with just one goalie — Riley, who graduated last year — which presented a challenge for drilling and practicing. Carson said his players practiced on only one end of the ice, which prevented them from simulating in-game, full-ice scenarios.
“Having Sophie allows for more structure,” Carson explained. “We’re able to use the full ice, and the players get better conditioning.”
Despite the pressures of learning the sport and fitting in with her teammates, Carson said she was met with open arms, and they all look at it in a good way. “The way the team has accepted her has been great,” he said. “Everyone’s been very warm.” She has joined in the team rituals of playing music on the bus to hype one another up, and sharing team dinners.
“My coaches and teammates are all sweet and amazing,” she said. “Everyone’s really supportive, and getting to be on a team with the players has been extremely rewarding.”
As she notes the glances from spectators and other players when she’s on the ice, Marino knows that she’s challenging the stigma that girls can’t compete with boys. That makes her experience all the more enjoyable. “They think we can’t do it,” she said, “when I know that we can.”
