Thursday, October 1, 2026
The MacArthur boys’ soccer season had reached the fork in the road.
The Generals entered a rivalry showdown at Mepham on a four-game losing streak, having won just one of their first six matches.
MacArthur needed a boost, and it came dramatically, with Matt Kobrin scoring the decisive penalty kick with 1:13 left in regulation to lift the Generals to a 3-2 win on Sept. 22.
“We came into it knowing it was a very important game, and that was the mindset from the rip,” Kobrin said. “The whole first half, the whole second half, everybody's mindset was this was an important game. We stuck together as a team. It went up. It went down, and we stuck with it.”
The senior center back and co-captain stepped to the penalty spot after Landon Pacheco was pulled down in the box. Kobrin calmly slotted his penalty kick low and to the right of Dimitrios DeSabato, the midfielder stepping into the goal after goalkeeper Frank Giovanniello was shown a yellow card on the play and had to leave the field.
“I knew where I was going from the rip, and then you just have to stick with your gut, have confidence on the field, and go through it,” Kobrin said.
Pacheco staked MacArthur (2-4-1) a lead with 4:38 left in the first half, taking a cross from sophomore George Hakim and tapping a first-time shot from point-blank range.
“He’s got an endless motor, he’s physical, he’s tough,” MacArthur coach Andy Atkins said of the junior captain. “He’s one of the shorter guys on the field, but somehow he’s winning all the head balls, and that’s just desire, and we need everyone to play that way.”
The midfielder doubled the Generals’ lead in the 62nd minute, racing onto a long throw-in before putting his shot inside the far post for his third goal of the season, matching his total from the previous season.
“Every single game, he’s the workhorse,” Kobrin said of Pacheco. “He’s the guy that makes everything happen. I give him all the props that he deserves, and he really deserves much more attention. He works 100 percent every single game, and he deserves much more.”
Just when it seemed MacArthur had put the match away, Mepham came roaring back, pulling within a goal three minutes later on Rhys Markwalter’s bar-down strike.
The Pirates equalized in the 73rd minute when defender Derek Arcos latched onto Jeronimo Norena’s corner kick and powerfully headed in his first goal of the season.
Mepham (4-2-1) seemingly had all the momentum down the stretch, until Brian Molina won the ball in the midfield and Hakim quickly sent Pacheco into a footrace with a Mepham defender as Giovanniello came off his line to challenge.
When Kobrin buried the penalty kick, the goal matched the Generals’ season total for goals scored and secured three massive points heading into the second half of the regular season.
“This is a turning point,” Kobrin said. “It’s only up from here, and we’re gonna switch the season around, hopefully.”
