Carey fresh off breakthrough campaign

The Carey girls’ soccer team snapped a 10-year playoff drought with one of the best seasons in school history in 2022, ripping off 11 straight wins to start the campaign before dropping the final two, including a shutout loss to Long Beach in the first round. Many key players from that team are back, making this year even more intriguing.
The Seahawks split the first two games of this season, starting with a 5-0 win at Elmont on Sept. 12 before a tough 1-0 loss to upstart Roslyn two days later despite peppering 17 shots on goal and 15 saves from junior goalkeeper Vanessa DeCastro. But coach Chris Posillico believes the team will regain their form once his players are fully healthy and the weather stabilizes.
“The returning varsity team was at workouts all summer and they definitely seem a lot more focused” he said. “We had a tough one on Thursday against Roslyn, we lost 1-0, but they definitely seem a lot more focused this year, which is good.”
Passing and ball possession have been the keys to the Seahawks’ success in recent seasons and points could come from anybody on the roster. Six different players hit the scoresheet against Elmont, led by Isabella Mola’s two goals and assist. Fellow junior Christina Genovese added a goal and an assist and sophomore Ava Iori had two helpers.
“I think this team prides itself on just all playing well together,” Posillico said. “They kind of all spread it around. There’s nobody that’s going to jump out on the stat line because they just all contribute. It’s not one player that stands out. They all do their job.”

Mola has been one of the players trying to regain full health early in the season and her three-point day already leaves her one goal and one assist shy of her entire total from last year. She has formed a nice 1-2 punch with Genovese, whom Posillico said was “the best player on the field” the first two games.
“She’s great at the point of midfield,” Posillico said of Mola. “She holds the ball up and allows the team to get up the field and then she makes those nice give-and-go passes. Her and Christina also play travel together. They play really well so when they’re on, they’re really in sync.”
Junior Antonietta Flaherty is the top returning scorer from last year (5-8-13) and also had a goal in the opener as did freshman Gabriella Perna, who is slotted at left outside midfielder with Flaherty shifting to the right. Junior Sara Mae Scavelli sets up the counterattack in the middle and Posillico said speedy freshman Amelia Kalamaras has the potential to be one of the best players on Long Island.
Junior captain Gabriella Jacob leads the defense at outside back with junior Kaitlyn Zitarosa and senior Krista DeVito manning the middle. Senior captain Alexandra DeCastro has just been cleared to play after knee surgery and Iori will see time at right back and striker.