East Meadow trends towards playoffs

It’s taken three seasons to set the stage for a coming-of-age moment.

Coinciding with the tenure of coach Brian Horrmann, the East Meadow boys’ soccer team has steadily trended upward over its past three campaigns, finishing 5-7 last fall in Conference AA-2, 5-8 overall – to reach the doorstep of what would have been the program’s first postseason in six years.

Led by seniors whose varsity careers began during Horrmann’s inaugural season, East Meadow, now assigned to Conference AA-1, aims to cross the threshold this time – to make this campaign the culmination of a four-year march from the cellar to the playoffs.

“We won’t be happy with anything less [than a playoff berth],” said Horrmann, whose club started its season last week with a pair of setbacks on the road, including a 1-0 league loss to Plainview-JFK in the teams’ season-opener Sept. 6. “Last year we got so close to the playoffs we could almost taste it. It’s what we’ve been working towards,” he added.

All-Conference seniors Daniel Nkrumah and Michael Posillico – each a co-captain in his fourth year on varsity – are back as a seasoned two-way tandem in the Jets’ midfield. Nkrumah led the team with six assists last season, while Posillico had three goals and two assists. “Daniel’s one of the top athletes in our division,” Horrmann said. “He’s got a way of anticipating plays on both offense and defense. Michael can envision plays and always knows where to be. He’s like a pit-bull, with a powerful left foot.”

East Meadow also returns playmaking forwards Eric Velasquez (junior) and John Castillo (senior), the team’s top scorers last season with five and four goals respectively. “Eric’s very creative,” Horrmann said. “He’s dangerous with the ball, especially when he gets into open space. John knows how to put himself in position to score. He works great with Eric.”

Senior stopper Matthew Espinosa is a third co-captain, heading East Meadow’s defense along with junior center-back Darius Lugo. “Matty can defend anybody in the league with ease” Horrmann said. “His knowledge of the game makes him effective at his position. Darius is like a brick wall back there, but he’s also not afraid to come up and try to score, which we encourage.”

Seniors Reuben Szczney and Ruben Teixeira round out the Jets’ midfield, with junior Brian Discala and senior Alan Gonzalez as the outside backs. In his first stint on a high school squad, senior Tony Escobar is the Jets’ starting goalie.

“We’re a senior-laden team with a lot of depth, which is a luxury,” Horrmann said. “We’ve got a lot of veterans. They’ve grown with me as players and I, as a coach, with them. When I started here, I wanted to help this team get back its gritty attitude. I think we’ve reached that.”

Added Horrmann: “We had the experience last year of almost making the postseason. Most of those guys are back this year and want to make it in this time. And I want it as bad as they do.”