Heartbreak struck again for the Wantagh girls’ soccer team in the county semifinals last Saturday night at Cold Spring Harbor High School.
The Lady Warriors fell one win shy of the program’s first county finals appearance for a third straight year when defending Class A champion Garden City escaped with a 4-3 penalty kick victory after 80 minutes of regulation and two overtime periods produced no goals. Garden City also knocked Wantagh out on penalty kicks on the 2014 semifinal stage and last year the Lady Warriors fell in the semis to South Side, 1-0.
“What they call the beautiful game can also be very cruel,” said Wantagh coach James Polo of the narrow margin between winning and losing in the sport of soccer. “We had some chances and didn’t execute when we needed to.”
Garden City’s marathon win advanced the Lady Trojans for a county finals rematch against South Side. Wantagh had split with Garden City in the regular season losing 1-0 on Sept. 16 and winning 4-3 on Sept. 28.
Both teams missed opportunities to put the ball in the net with Garden City striking two posts and Wantagh missing a first-half penalty kick. Ally Murphy, Julianna King and Chelsea Kingston converted scores for Wantagh during the penalty kicks before Garden City advanced in the sudden death phase of the shootout.
Wantagh held Garden City scoreless thanks to the stout defensive play of senior tri-captains Julia Fazio, Amanda Lynch and Murphy along with sophomore Casey O’Connor. The Lady Warriors also posted shutouts in first round 1-0 overtime win against West Hempstead, and 3-0 quarterfinal triumph versus Island Trees. King also bolstered the backline with her fifth straight shutout Saturday including several close stops.
“The defense really came together,” Polo said. “They stepped it up for the playoffs.”
Wantagh’s postseason began with drama when the Lady Warriors edged out 14th-seeded West Hempstead on goal from Jackie Corbin with 32 seconds remaining in overtime. They then punched their ticket to the semifinals with 3-0 win against Island Trees that featured two tallies from Chelsea Kingston, a goal by Amanda Adia and two assists from Julianna Kissane.
“I’m very proud of their run,” Polo said. “They battled hard.”
Polo has turned Wantagh into one of the stronger programs in Nassau County since taking over as coach in 2011, and with the commitment of his players he feels it is only a matter of time before the program breaks through to that next step.
The Lady Warriors graduate senior tri-captains just like a year ago, but the younger players returning should be poised to continue the momentum. He hopes the 2016 team will look back with their heads held high knowing they left everything on the field.
“Nobody thought at the beginning of the year we would achieve what we did this season,” Polo said. “We didn’t get to where we wanted to go, but this is a growing program.”
