It has been a mixed bag of results in the first half of the regular season for the Massapequa girls’ soccer team.
The Chiefs came flying out of the gate, scoring 12 goals combined in three straight victories. A six-match winless streak followed, with Massapequa scoring just one goal in the run of play in the last seven matches.
So it’s a 3-3-3 overall record with 15 goals scored and 15 conceded heading into the second half of the regular season.
But with a pair of 0-0 draws vs. Port Washington and Plainedge in their last four games, the Chiefs have shown improvement defensively of late.
“We’ve come a long way in the last three weeks,” longtime coach Bruce Stegner said. “I think we’ve improved on the defensive side of the ball. Now we’ve got to try to learn how to convert opportunities in the offensive third.”
Conceding directly off of corner kicks, which happened three times in a 4-0 loss to South Side on September 22, has forced Stegner to switch from the zonal marking he’s utilized for the better part of the last two decades to man-marking the set pieces.
Helping solidify the defensive side has been the return of senior defensive midfielder Julianna Domingo from injury.
“She has a great work rate. She wins a lot of balls. She's a good distributor of the ball, a good tackler, and wins some head balls,” Stegner said. “She’s not scoring a lot of goals for us or anything like that, but she's definitely doing a lot of dirty work.”
Junior Alexa Hilas is also working her way back from injury and will also help lock things down defensively. She’ll join senior Natalie Byrns, a two-year starter at center back, along with senior outside back Ava Primavera and junior Cassandra Van Schuyler.
Freshman Haley D’Orio started the season platooning in goal with senior Molly Hoffman, but D’Orio has earned additional opportunities with her play.
“She's just got good technique, understands the game, good shot-stopper, can cover balls,” Stegner said. “She’s good with balls low, for sure. She understands the game and has good fundamentals, good technical ability.”
Sophomore Shea Mangan and freshman Liliana Amato partner in the center of midfield. Senior Olivia Morgan is a versatile attacking cog, while senior Olivia LoGiudice has provided a spark off the bench with three goals and one assist.
With Massapequa’s struggles offensively, which have included two missed penalty kicks, Stegner is looking for a spark from a converted defender in junior Lexi Daniels.
Daniels, who has scored four goals this season, joins fellow junior Emma Ferguson up top in Stegner’s preferred 4-4-2 formation.
“She’s been playing center back most of her life, but I’m trying to convert her,” Stegner said of Daniels. “ She’s still learning the position, but she can strike the ball with both feet, she is strong on the ball. She's quick, she's tenacious, so it's just a matter of learning and also finishing in the six-yard box, that's something that we need to get better at.”
