Tough schedule awaits South Side

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For South Side boys’ soccer, finishing the regular season with 21 points out of a possible 36 — despite losing just once — and in a tie for fourth place, in addition to falling short in a Class A first-round playoff game, 2017 just wasn’t up to standard.

The Cyclones, with six appearances in the county finals and three championships over the past decade, are looking for a better showing this fall and coach Fred Paul believes they have the roster to do it.

“I really like our team,” Paul said. “We’ve got a lot of experienced guys and I feel very good about the talent level. We haven’t had a bad practice and hopefully we’ll reach our potential.”

Under Nassau’s new conference alignment, enrollment numbers landed the Cyclones (6-2-6 overall last season) in a stacked A-3 along with Jericho, Roslyn, Hewlett, Carey and Kennedy. Only the top three finishers are guaranteed a playoff berth. “There’s not a lot of margin for error,” Paul said. “Five of the six teams in our conference made the playoffs last year and even though Roslyn didn’t, they’ve had one of the strongest programs in recent years. It’s going to be a difficult schedule.”

South Side returns four award winners as well as a major piece of the puzzle — Rob Reis — limited by a knee injury a year ago. Most set plays and corners will come off the foot of Reis, a junior midfielder who scored three goals in 2016. “He’s a game-changer who’s poised with the ball and makes great decisions,” Paul explained.

A few of Reis’ targets on restarts will be senior strikers Joe Buglione (All-County) and Matteo Romanello (All-Conference.) They ranked first and second, respectively, on the team in scoring a year ago and will be spelled on occasion by sophomore Vasion Singari.

Buglione had four goals and six assists and enters his final campaign with 10 career tallies. “We’re relying heavily on Joe to produce even more,” Paul said. “He’s dynamic and quick and tough to handle one-on-one. I’m looking for him to be more aggressive.” Romanello (three goals, four assists) moves up top from an outside midfield spot. “He’s effective in the air and can create scoring opportunities,” Paul said. “Our scoring was down 50 percent last year, so we’re looking to get back to where we were offensively.”

Attacking midfielder Miguel Hulyalkar found the net four times as a sophomore and is a creative facilitator, Paul said. Seniors Sal Buglione (three goals) and Matt Goldstein also return to the midfield, which was bolstered by a position change for senior Dylan Chruma and junior Aidan Prendergast’s promotion from JV.

Defensively, senior Sean Hurwitz and junior All-Conference selection Nick Giganti return at fullback. Senior Dan Diez and junior Matt Guinan step in at sweeper and stopper, respectively. Paul said he has “lots of confidence” in both goalkeepers — Honorable Mention All-County junior Danny Kelleher and senior Shane Healey.

South Side will play each of its conference rivals twice, beginning with a Sept. 13 trip to Kennedy.