Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Lynbrook boys soccer team found its footing in late September after going winless in its first five matches and now finds itself in the thick of the playoff race.
A 6-0 blowout of Seaford last Friday gave the Owls their third win in four matches and moved them to 3-3-1 in Conference A. Lynbrook, which entered the week tied for sixth place, can assure itself of a postseason berth with a top eight finish or achieving a .500 or better conference record.
“We are finding our identity,” Lynbrook coach Josh Berlin said. “We are focusing on playing simple soccer leaning on our skill and our collective talent as opposed to any individual ability.”
The Seaford win featured two goals apiece from senior forward Nikolai Lyubomirskiy and eighth-grade midfielder Jayden Payne. Senior forward Juan Chosec also had a goal and two assists with sophomore defender Jacob Quinteros also finding the back of the net.
Lynbrook began its winning stretch with a 7-1 home romp against Island Trees on Sept. 17 led by four goals from Lyubomirskiy. Lyubomirskiy, who missed most of his junior season with an injury, has registered eight goals in his last four games.
“He had a slow start trying to find his footing,” Berlin said of Lyubomirskiy. “He's starting to really gain the confidence that his injury is not going to hold him back.”
Freshman forward/midfielder Nico Davies has also provided an offensive spark plug as one of 11 underclassmen on the roster. He tallied a goal and an assist in Lynbrook’s 3-1 victory at Lawrence on Sept. 19.
The defense has shown improvement after starting the season with a challenging schedule led by junior captain Liam Byrne and senior Quinlan Mattera. Quinteros and freshman Julian Hernandez have also keyed a backline unit that held opponents to a goal or less in the team's three wins.
Sophomore goalkeeper Matthew Ambery has made strides of late, recording eight saves in both the Island Trees win and a 2-0 loss to Locust Valley on Sept. 23. Berlin said the strong play of junior backup goalkeeper Owen Reid, who had three saves in the Seaford win, has helped raise Ambery’s game
The Owls open the October portion of their schedule at home Thursday against Friends Academy starting at 5:30 p.m. before hosting Sewanhaka Saturday at 5:15 p.m. Lynbrook will then visit Wantagh on Monday afternoon and return home Wednesday to face Valley Stream South at 5 p.m.
Berlin said its early challenging non-league schedule against Hewlett and Catholic League foe Kellenberg have prepared his team well for league games.
“I purposely put ourselves up against two established teams in Hewlett and Kellenberg to really test my guys,” Berlin said. "It's a little harder for them to mesh together so quickly when you have 10 days before your first contest after preseason practices begin so it's not as much the results that we're looking at but the bigger picture.”
