Thursday, October 1, 2026
Valley Stream South’s girls soccer team is coming off an arduous week: three games across between Sept. 9-12; a 4-1 loss to Oyster Bay, followed by taking home the first win of the season in a 3-0 shutout over Lawrence Sept. 11, before concluding with an 4-1 loss to West Hempstead.
Falcons coach Tara Brady isn’t concerned about it.
“We’re kind of off to a rough start, we’re 1-3 right now, so the message that I want to get across to the girls each game lost is that losses are tough but they don’t define us,” Brady said. “We treat each day as a fresh chance to grow and prove and come back stronger, so that’s out mentality at the moment. I appreciate the girls’ heart and hustle and fight until the final whistle, so that is the character of the team.”
Spirits are still high, and for good reason, according to Brady, based on what went right for the team on the 3-0 win.
“That was a hat trick by Nina Munafo, that was definitely a high school career milestone for Nina,” Brady said. “She’s a hard worker, she’s one of our captains this year, she’s a junior, well-earned and well deserved for her.”
Brady also said Munafo is a figure that younger or newer players look up to for leadership, as someone who is able to give and take constructive criticism while also bringing uplifting spirits to the team, no matter the circumstances.
There’s young and promising talent that Brady sees in eighth-grader Amina Ba.
“She is so open to listening to her teammates, overall she’s a great player on her own but she’s open to the mentoring of the more experienced players and she’s doing a great job of learning the pace of varsity soccer,” Brady said.
With sophomore Samantha Pellman added to the midfield, Munafo, Ba and Pellman all combine for an intense unit that Brady said she has high expectations for.
There’s also senior captains Jessica Dyer and Isabella Rush. “They’re always the ones that keep that positivity as well, so the captains are who the girls look up to for that support,” Brady said.
The goalkeeper, freshman Saba Mir, was also a contributing factor to the team’s win with her pair of saves, and will continually be vital in future games.
“That’s what I talk about when I talk about that character of the girls in our team, you probably wouldn’t even know how old she is just because of the way how she carries herself, she carries herself with grace,” Brady said. “She was new to goal actually because she started there as an eighth grader, so she hasn’t been in this position for too long. The improvement from last year to now, I’m very proud of her.”
Brady, a former defender throughout her high school and collegiate careers, keeps a watchful eye on her defensive unit though.
“Chinelo Obichere, a junior, I do have high expectations for her in the back line. She’s a very strong defender, and the mentality of ‘defense wins championships’ [is present], so for Chinelo I really have high expectations for her,” the coach said.
Next up is a trip to Locust Valley Thursday for a 5 p.m. start.
