Thursday, October 1, 2026
It has been said many times that defense wins championships. If that still rings true, then the East Meadow Jets girls’ soccer team will have an excellent chance at making a deep postseason run.
The Lady Jets finished the regular season with a 10-2-3 record and earned a No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the upcoming Nassau Class AA playoffs. They will host the Farmingdale in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
East Meadow showed marked improvement from last season’s 6-6-3 effort and has outscored the opposition 23-8 in 2017, including eight shutouts. The only time the Lady Jets allowed more than one goal was a 2-0 defeat to Massapequa on Oct. 18.
“It really was a special season,” said coach Adam Hananel. “In all the times that I’ve been here, this is probably the closest-knit team that I’ve had. They genuinely enjoy being around each other and they play for each other.”
The strong defensive corps of freshman Scarlett Espinosa, juniors Kayla Leary and Mary Boyle and senior Katie Hernandez was a big reason behind the Lady Jets’ success. Hananel described Leary, one of the team’s captains, as the “anchor” of the backline and somebody that can make plays anywhere on the field.
“She’s unbelievable,” he said. “She’s everywhere. If you watch our games, she stands out.”
The trio also made life easier for sophomore goaltender Stephanie Sparkowski, who averaged seven saves a game. But Hananel has used Sparkowski and her strong foot in other ways that resulted in two goals by her on free kicks.
Freshman Myla McLeod was unfazed in her varsity debut by pacing the team with six goals and four assists. She scored with 33 minutes remaining in the season-opening 1-0 win over Manhasset and added a goal and two assists in the second half of East Meadow’s 3-1 comeback win at Calhoun a week later.
“She’s got some really good speed [and] the ability to attack somebody at full speed with the ball at your feet,” Hananel said. “There’s not many girls that can do that.”
Senior Vittoria Fuduli chipped in four goals, Leary added three and sophomore Rachel Rose tallied twice.
The Lady Jets, though, will be heading into the playoffs shorthanded with the loss of center midfielder Alyssa Vega to an ACL injury against Syosset on Oct. 16. The sophomore will be replaced by a committee that will include junior Cristina Pavon and possibly McLeod, depending on the matchup. “That really hurts us,” Hananel said of Vega’s injury. “She’s a really big part of our team. She wins 50-50 balls and she’s not even five-foot tall. But somehow she plays much bigger than she is and she’s a tough cookie.”
Another challenge facing the Lady Jeets is whether they’ll be fresh or rusted since they haven’t played in almost a week. “I flip-flop between that all the time between, ‘All right, we need to work real hard and challenge ourselves to keep that mentality going,’” Hananel said. “But then again, you also need to rest. Hopefully, we can find the right balance between rest and hard work.”
