Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Freeport’s girls’ soccer team is looking to make history. And the Red Devils aren’t interested in being one-hit wonders.
There’s a chance the Red Devils, should they win out in their final two games of the season, make a long-awaited return to the postseason. But even if Freeport falls just short of the Nassau Class AAA playoffs, the wheels are in motion for sustained success.
The Red Devils enter the stretch drive of the regular season having won seven of their last eight games. A play-in playoff berth is possible should Freeport (7-3-0) win its final two games — against ‘AAA’ opponents Hicksville and Uniondale.
“The focus for our team is making history, breaking through those ceilings. That’s what we're going to continue to build towards. If it's not this year, then the years to come,” Freeport coach Lauren Gates-McKee said. “We’re thinking long term. It's more than just a season for us. With such a really young team, our focus is to continue to build the program.”
It was a slow start for the Red Devils, who dropped their opening two matches to Valley Stream Central and Great Neck North. But those defeats came while Red Devils coaches Gates-McKee and Sarah Campbell were still tweaking the lineup.
A 5-0 win over Hempstead on Sept. 9 followed, and Freeport started rolling, earning decisive victories against Malverne/East Rockaway, Elmont and Great Neck South.
The 6-1 triumph over Malverne/East Rockaway on Sept. 18 was especially big for the Red Devils’ confidence.
“The morning of that game, we had the girls exchange letters with each other. They drew names, and they just wrote what it meant to be a teammate with that player,” Gates-McKee said.
“We walked in not only with the mindset of manifesting that win and focusing on our technique and skill, but we also came in with this great togetherness that made us believe that every single game is winnable.”
Even after a 5-1 defeat at Glen Cove on Sept. 30, the Red Devils immediately rebounded to defeat Sewanhaka, Roosevelt and, last Saturday, Westbury, 7-0.
Junior Andrea Fuentes Chacon scored four goals in that victory against Westbury, while sophomore Keiry Herrera Martinez contributed three assists and Jerelyn Arevalo and Wendy Villeda added one goal and one assist apiece. Unlike last season, the scoring load is shared. Arevalo was a breakout star as a freshman. This season, as a sophomore captain, she has nine goals and six assists and has plenty of help in the attacking third.
There’s Villeda, a freshman who has 14 goals and six assists and has scored a hat trick in four separate games, as well as the potent midfield partnership of freshman Khloe Salcedo and senior captain Sabrina Ligonde, who has 4 goals.
That fearsome foursome has led the Red Devils to 47 goals on the season, good for third in Conference AAA/AA-3.
Helping lock things down defensively have been sophomores Cristel Requena Ramos and Haydee Gamboa Velasquez, who moved from central midfield to shore up the backline, which also features Herrera Martinez, while senior midfielder Rebecca Hernandez Guzman has dominated physically for a Freeport team that is also seeking success off the field.
“Our team belief is character, academics, and then athletics,” Gates-McKee said. “Our players are not only successful on the pitch, but they're also finding their pathway moving forward into post-secondary plans with their academics, and just being proud of their team and their community.”
