Sports
Sachem East Girls Soccer Defeats Kings Park
The Arrows opened its season at home with a 1-0 victory over Kings Park in non-league play on Monday afternoon.
Laurie Semetsis scored with 22 minutes remaining in the game on an assist from Stephanie Leonardo as Sachem East escaped with a 1-0 victory in non-league play Monday afternoon against Kings Park.
The game was evenly matched throughout until Semetsis took advantage of a lapse in the Kings Park defense. Leonardo slid the ball through two defenders and Semetsis took care of the rest, sliding to chip the ball past the goalkeeper and into the back of the goal.
“Laurie is very fast and she broke through and scored that goal,” Sachem coach Ralph Forman said.
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It was the opening game of the 2011 campaign for Sachem, who was the No. 1 seed in the Suffolk playoffs last year but was upset in the first round by Whitman. The Flaming Arrows graduated a slew of talented players, including all-state goaltender Alyssa Gutierrez. Sachem’s Emily Carmel and Gina Borgia split goaltending duties in this game and pitched the shutout.
“I think they both did a fine job,” Forman said, but, “we’ll be doing that for a while until someone seems like they can take it over. All the positions are open at this time.”
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For Kings Park, who lost its second consecutive 1-0 decision, coach Brian LoPalo was happy with his teams play. “I think we outplayed them,” he said. “I think we controlled the pace of play, won the 50/50 balls, controlled the possession of the ball but we can’t put the ball in the back of the net. It’s a little frustrating but it’s only the second game of the year so it’s a work in progress.”
Kings Park had chances in the first half. Katherine Corcoran fired two shots high over the goal and the team did not convert on two corners late in the first half. Forward Amanda Scherb had a quality chance midway through the second half but was denied by Carmel. Carmel also misplayed a ball with only two minutes remaining in the game that nearly led to the equalizer but the ball rolled wide of the goal.
“It’s definitely the way the ball is bouncing,” LoPalo said when talking about his team’s lack of scoring. “I think we’re right there, we’re inches away from scoring a couple of goals - we’re still positive.”
Kings Park begins its league schedule on September 20 when they face off against Eastport-South Manor.
Sachem East’s matchup against Central Islip on September 21 is the Flaming Arrows first league game.
