Hewlett alive in playoff race

The first half of last Friday’s Nassau Conference A-III girls’ soccer game between Valley Stream South and Hewlett was played under sunny skies at Ogden Elementary School and featured a few quality scoring chances for each side but no goals.

In the second half, Mother Nature dominated. Numerous lightning strikes and a steady downpour of rain forced officials to end the important matchup 36 minutes prematurely, giving each team a tie in the standings.

Freshman goalkeeper Sammy Jo Shanahan made two saves for Valley Stream South (2-4-2), while junior Sarah Herzberg turned aside two shots from close range for Hewlett (2-2-4), which posted a fourth straight shutout.

“We’re definitely aiming to make the playoffs,” Lady Bulldogs coach Gil Kreiss said. “The ball movement today was better. We’re starting to get healthy and I think the flow will start to get better as a result.”

Last Friday was junior outside defender Melissa Ramos’ first game back from injury, and sophomore forward Gabrielle Schwartz is just getting back to 100 percent following the removal of wisdom teeth, Kreiss said.  

“We need to get something going on offense,” said Kreiss, whose team has just one goal — from Herzberg — during a four-game unbeaten streak that includes three scoreless ties and a victory over Mineola. “We scored some goals earlier in the year and we’re trying to get back to that.” Schwartz, junior Cori Hoberman and senior Samara Yegelwel will log the majority of minutes at forward the rest of the way, he said.

Meanwhile, the defense and goalkeeping are airtight. Caitlin DiCarlo, who leads Valley Stream South in goals with four, and Christie DeMarco, who has three goals and two assists, had golden opportunities from inside of 15 yards. A direct free kick by DeMarco in the 18th minute sailed over the crossbar, and less than 10 minutes later Herzberg dove to deny DiCarlo.

“Sarah’s played well in goal when we’ve called on her,” Kreiss said.