Massapequa tops Calhoun in OT

For the 14th time in 15 years and for a sixth year in a row, Massapequa staked its claim to the Nassau Class AA girls’ soccer title.

Last Friday at Cold Spring Harbor, the third-seeded Lady Chiefs avenged a pair of regular-season losses to No. 1 Calhoun and captured the county championship on Morgan Carmada’s goal with 3:52 remaining in the second 10-minute overtime. Carmada settled a pass from Jackie Portogallo and blasted a shot into the upper right corner from about 12 yards out.

“I didn’t want this to be my last high school game,” Carmada said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling.”

Massapequa, which defeated Calhoun 5-1 in last year’s championship game, hadn’t scored against the Lady Colts in more than 255 minutes of action this season and lost a pair of 1-0 decisions. “It was a real challenge,” Lady Chiefs coach Bruce Stegner said. “It took us over three games to score against them. It was two great defensive teams going at it.

“I thought Morgan stayed poised when the ball got to her feet and put everything into the shot,” he added.

 Massapequa keeper Haylee Poltorak made OT possible with her best save with 12:45 left in regulation off Calhoun senior Ariel Tillman. Poltorak made a diving two-handed stop on a shot from 15 yards out that was ticketed for the inside of the far post. “That was the game right there,” Calhoun coach James Raucci said of the save. “It was pretty impressive to watch the two teams battle. All season we talked about leaving no regrets on the field. It’s disappointing, but we played a strong game and the girls should hold their heads up high.”

While the majority of the game was played between the 20s, the last 15 minutes of regulation and the nearly 14 minutes of OT saw some of the best scoring chances. Poltorak stopped another hard shot by Tillman with 5:30 to go in regulation and Calhoun sophomore Kerry Pearson hit the crossbar a minute later. 

“Both goalies made some ridiculous saves,” Raucci said.

Calhoun senior keeper Julia Miguel made a diving save of her own with 15 minutes to play and raced to the top of the box to make a sliding stop in the first overtime. She and Poltorak had six saves apiece. Miguel posted 10 shutouts on the season, including two against Massapequa, while allowing just three goals against Conference I rivals.

“I think the one thing Massapequa did differently this time was they kept the tempo quicker,” Raucci said. “It was two evenly matched teams leaving it all on the field.”

The Lady Colts finished 11-3-2 overall and conference champions. They earned a first-round bye in the playoffs and defeated Baldwin and Port Washington in the quarterfinals and semis, respectively, by identical 3-0 scores. 

Senior Annie Coogan (10 goals), Pearson (7) and senior Kathryn Healy (6) led the offensive attack while senior Mia Advocate and juniors Julia Babbo and Eleanor Beichert spearheaded the defense.