Carey starting to gain steam

When the 2017 high school boys’ soccer season began, Carey head coach Matt Princi knew that it was going to take time for his team to hit its stride, but expected the Seahawks to playing their best soccer when October came around. It certainly appears Carey is trending in that direction.

After a 2-1 road victory over Sewanhaka on Sept. 28, the Seahawks improved to 4-2-2 overall, 3-2-2 in Nassau Conference A1, and have been beaten just once over their past six matches. Junior James Hansen’s goal with two minutes to play broke the tie and sent Carey home with the win. Sewanhaka’s Bryan Chacon had evened things up three minutes earlier.

Princi is looking for his team to do a better job closing out games. “We’ve lost one-goal leads three times this season,” Princi said. “We need to play hard for the entire match if we’re going to be successful. Sewanhaka just kept coming and coming, and eventually they put one in. It’s part of the learning process. We need to be disciplined and play all 80 minutes.”

The Seahawks scored just three minutes into the match when Vincent Moreno found the back of the net from the top of the 18-yard box for his second goal of the season. Carey held a 1-0 lead for virtually all of the match. 

After Chacon’s equalizer, senior Pat Mehr booted a free kick across the pitch and Hansen headed the ball perfectly into the net for his first career goal. Nicholas Gaviria, who had no chance on the winning goal, had eight saves for the Indians. Ben Wettstein stopped seven shots to earn the win.

Earlier in the week, the Seahawks lost for the first time since early September when visiting South Side scored three times in the final 25 minutes and held on for a 3-1 win. Corry Brinken scored his seventh goal of the season for Carey. 

Brinken has been the go-to guy for the Seahawks all season long. “Anyone who has scouted us knows that Corry is a player they’ll need to pay attention to,” Princi said. “He’s strong and skilled, and can score from just about anywhere. Now, he’s getting marked and double marked. He’ll have a target on his back the rest of the way. We changed things up a bit a few games ago to get more guys involved. We are more in sync and feel like we have everybody in the right spots.”

The Carey defense has been solid throughout the season. With the tandem of seniors John Ngoy and Christian Viti on the inside, and Andrew Higgins and Hansen on the outside, the unit has held teams to one goal or fewer in five of its matches. Wettstein had an exceptional performance in a 1-1 tie with Garden City, recording 11 saves including a few from point-blank range.

Carey plays its third match of the week on Saturday afternoon at Bellmore JFK at 3 p.m.