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Light Rain East Meadow tops Oceanside in OT
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Oceanside's Danielle Rossi, right, dribbles away from a sliding Gabriella Fuduli of East Meadow during last Friday's Class AA semifinal game.
Claudio Papapietro/Herald
Last Friday night’s Nassau Class AA girls’ soccer semifinal playoff game at Tully Park brought further proof of the old sports adage about how difficult it is to beat a team three times in one season.
Second-seeded East Meadow, which twice blew out No. 3 Oceanside during the regular season, led for more than 43 minutes of regulation but was forced to work overtime after allowing the tying goal with 52 seconds left. The Lady Jets eventually prevailed, 2-1, on a goal by Courtney Gross with 4:12 remaining in the third 10-minute OT, and advanced to meet top-seeded Massapequa in the title game.
“We knew this game was going to be a lot closer than the others,” said East Meadow coach Adam Hananel, whose team beat Oceanside 6-1 on Sept. 17 and 4-0 on Oct. 8. “We didn’t underestimate them at all,” he added. “It was an intense game and it would be really nice for our girls to get one more win.”
Gross, a senior who assisted on junior Ashley Guerrero’s goal late in the first half scored the winner off a mad scramble in the Oceanside box. Lady Sailors junior goalkeeper Jessica Kambic (10 saves) was solid all night and denied East Meadow three times in overtime before Gross ended it. “It was a game with a lot of adrenaline and excitement,” Gross said. “We had the heart to do it and pulled through.”
Senior Shannon Farrell tied it for the Lady Sailors and she twice came close to winning it in overtime, sending shots just over the head of East Meadow senior goalkeeper Brittany Anghel (seven saves) as well as the crossbar. “We’ve had so many 1-0 losses on this field, so it felt good when we tied it,” Oceanside coach Marianna Winchester said. “East Meadow gave us more trouble this season than anyone, but this was an even game. Jessica really stepped up in goal for us and kept them from going ahead by two.”
The defense was strong on both sides, with East Meadow’s led by seniors Gillian Gross, Shannon McGuinness and Colleen Schweiger and junior Jessica Widmann, and Oceanside’s sparked by seniors Karina Rizzo and Tess Ytuarte and juniors Paulette Scalamandre and Casey Block.
Both teams earned a first-round bye. In the quarterfinals, the Lady Jets defeated No. 7 Mepham, 2-0, on goals by Courtney Gross and junior Luisa Echeverry, and the Lady Sailors knocked off No. 6 Hicksville, 2-1, with Rizzo and junior Samantha Raimondo scoring.
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