Valley Stream South enjoys notable turnaround

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It took until last Saturday’s Conference ABC-III regular-season finale for Valley Stream South’s offense to show the type of balance likely needed for a deep run in the Nassau Class A boys’ soccer playoffs.

The Falcons rolled to a 4-0 victory over Seaford and will enter the postseason undefeated in their last three games and with only one defeat in the last seven. It was the most goals they’ve scored all season and four different players were responsible: senior Brian Garay registered his team-leading eighth, senior Patryk Wasilewski notched his seventh, and sophomores Chris Camacho and Jesse Orozco both picked up their first.

“We’ve had trouble scoring at times so hopefully this ignites a fire,” VSS coach Rich Boyd said. “We finally broke out and maybe it’ll carry over into the playoffs. It’s a whole new season now.”

Junior Keyshawn Newman earned his fourth assist, freshman Stephane Maurice, a recent JV call-up playing his first varsity game, also had an assist, and senior goalkeeper Chris Peralta made five saves for his second shutout of the year. The outcome cost Seaford, which dropped its fourth in a row, a playoff berth.

“It was scoreless at halftime and it felt like a playoff atmosphere with a big crowd,” Boyd explained. “It was a good experience for our young guys.”

Garay opened the scoring when he headed in a long throw-in by Newman. Camacho made it 2-0, Wasilewski had the third goal, and Orozco, who started the season at sweeper, converted a touch pass from Maurice to put the icing on the cake. “We’ve been keeping an eye on Stephane for a while and he probably played 30 minutes in his first varsity game,” Boyd said of Maurice. “I expect him to be out there during the playoffs.”

South, which struggled through a 2-8-2 campaign in 2016 and missed the playoffs, enjoyed a complete turnaround with an 8-3-1 mark. Boyd credits experience, confidence and health, particularly that of Garay, as the biggest reasons for success.

“There’s only been one game we weren’t in and that was against Island Trees,” Boyd said of a 3-0 loss on Oct. 4. “I’m really happy with the record. We lost a tough one to West Hempstead after leading 2-0, but hopefully that won’t hurt our seed too much.”

Boyd said there’s a possibility the Falcons could host a first-round playoff game this Saturday. They would need one of the top eight seeds to do so. “I think we’ll be somewhere between 7 and 11. That would be fair.”

While Garay and Wasilewski comprise 90 percent of the scoring, and Garay and junior Mike Martinez (1 goal, 4 assists) control the midfield, the defense has kept South in just about every game. Senior Liam Tormey is thriving since taking over at sweeper, and marking backs Nick Schapira and Pablo Rodriguez, a junior and sophomore, respectively, have been rock-solid.

“We’re excited to see who we get to open the playoffs,” Boyd said.