Uniondale hot as playoffs approach

With the start of the Nassau County boys’ soccer playoffs around the corner, Uniondale coach Cohen Nelson just doesn’t want to qualify for the postseason. He wants to win the Class AAA championship.
His squad has positioned itself well with a 7-2 record and a four-game winning streak through last weekend.
Before the season, Nelson had some lofty goals.
“My belief is that whatever your endeavor, you should always be trying to achieve the optimum, whether it’s in the classroom, on the pitch, in life,” he said, adding that he told his team on the first day of practice, ‘First and foremost our goal is to become county champions. You’re going to have bumps, but the mindset is that we want to be number one in November. Period, hands down.’ “
So far, so very good.

Cohen said that rallying from a two-goal deficit for a 4-3 comeback win at Hempstead on Sept. 19 was a defining point of the season.
“That galvanized not only confidence in the system that we’re playing, but from a coaching standpoint, I consider myself a sales rep and I’m trying to sell the product and they bought the product.
“I know we have this resilience,” he added. “It’s great that we’re coming back but it’s not good for my heart. It’s trying to stay in front and getting in front. II don’t want to rely on that too much, especially going into the postseason.”
The Knights had some bumps in the road, having to play most of their games away, due to a $3.85 million construction project of a turf field at the high school. It is scheduled to be completed in December.
Despite that inconvenience, Uniondale has forged an impressive 6-2 away record. The team’s most recent game was a 3-1 win at Freeport last Saturday. Junior Valle, a junior midfielder, scored twice, and senior midfielder Joseph Lopez once.
“I like relishing the opportunity and the challenge,” Nelson said. “I told them that from day one, ‘We’re going to play on the road. We’ll play on ice. We’ll play on a gravel pit. We don’t care where we play.’ I liked the challenge of being away with the opposing fans, the screaming and yelling. It imposes our mental strength, playing against all odds. I have no problems with it at all.”
Apparently, his team doesn’t as well.
Valle leads the Knights in scoring with six goals, followed by Adan Gomez (five), and Lopez and Raymond Zavala (four apiece). Lopez also has accrued a team-high seven assists.
The Knights have many components of a championship team in place.
Co-captains Fernando Rios, a defender, does the dirty work in the midfield, and Carlos Godoy, a junior, leads the defense.
Nelson said that he would like to see his team improve on one aspect of defending.
“We defend well, but what I would like to tighten up is our defending on set plays,” he said. “We’re getting better with it, but I’m never satisfied. We are the highest scoring team in our conference. So that attacking mindset is where it needs to be.”