Thursday, October 1, 2026
The MacArthur girls soccer team completed a grueling regular-season schedule last week that could pay dividends for a fresh start in the postseason.
The Generals kicked off their playoff push Tuesday following a 3-8-4 season featuring stiff competition in the AAA/AA 1 division competing against some of the top girls soccer programs in Nassau County. The grueling schedule featured a win against Oceanside, the top-seeded team in Conference AAA, along with ties against defending Class AA champions Garden City and unbeaten Seaford.
“The girls think we're a good team and know we can make a run and have a confidence level that has remained relatively high even though we didn't get the results we wanted most of the time,” said fourth-year MacArthur coach Steve Costello. “We are a better team than what the record shows.”
The regular season was highlighted by a 1-0 home win against Oceanside on Sept. 30 that handed the Sailors just their second loss of the season at the time. The Generals scored the game’s lone goal off a shot from senior midfielder Mia Rodriguez following a throw-in by Katelynn Paulich with 2:13 left.
Sophomore goalkeeper Lyla Curtin keyed the Oceanside win with eight saves and also recorded eight stops in a 2-0 win against Syosset on Oct. 4 that marked her third shutout in four matches. Curtin, who is in her first varsity season patrolling the net, also stepped up big in a 0-0 tie with defending Class AA champion Garden City on Sept. 19 with nine saves.
“She's been tremendous and she’s been maybe our most consistent player every game,” said Costello of his starting net-minder.
“She’s a very improbable player because she's tiny and you don't see a lot of Conference I goalkeepers who are under five feet tall, but she's got the heart of a lion, and she is fully committed to doing her best every day.”
Curtin is part of a backline that features outside backs Gianna Winkler and Emily Squicciarini along with center backs Abigail Zazulka and Katelynn Paulich.
The unit, which has also featured contributions at times from versatile junior midfielder Alexa Coppola, has held opponents to a goal or less in seven games.
The offense has seen production from a variety of different goal scorers this season led by senior midfielder Ysabelle Perillo, a reigning All County midfielder and freshman forward Alyssa Schmutzler. The Generals produced four different goal scorers in a 4-4 tie with Manhasset on Sept. 21 from Perillo, Schmutzler, Coppola and Iannuzzi.
Third-seed MacArthur was scheduled to host the winner of a play-in game between Jericho and Hewlett with a win advancing the Generals to the quarterfinal round Friday back home in Levittown against either Long Beach or Roslyn. A quarterfinal win would put the Generals into the semifinals stage of the playoffs for the eighth straight season on Oct. 29 at Cold Spring Harbor High School.
