Crunch time for V.S. Central

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It all comes down to the final two games of the season for the Valley Stream Central boys’ soccer team as it continues its quest for a playoff spot.

The Eagles enter the last two weeks of the season with a 3-5-3 record (1-4-3 in Conference A1) and need to win each of their final contests to guarantee a postseason berth by virtue of a .500 record. The team caught a break with the schedule as they will face teams close to them in the standings, including Sewanhaka (2-7-3, 2-5 conference) on Friday and Oct. 16 at Great Neck South (1-9-1, 1-5), which could be tough too because all five of Central’s losses have come on the road.

If their offensive weapons continue to click and the defense finds its game, second-year coach Bill Miller sees no reason why the Eagles can’t extend the season.

“The kids know how important these two games are,” he said. “Just having them mentally prepare themselves to come out and be successful hopefully will be enough for them, realizing the gravity of the situation that these are games we have to win.”

Central is mired in a four-game winless streak (0-2-2) and have just one victory since starting the season 2-1, a 6-3 win over winless Elmont on Sept. 17. But the team has shown a competitive spirit in its last two games that has sparked optimism for a strong finish.

On Sept. 27, the Eagles were tied with Herricks 2-2 late in the contest before the Highlanders converted a corner kick with five minutes left to escape with a crucial victory. Less than a week later, they fell behind 3-0 to Calhoun in the second half before storming back to take a 4-3 lead on a goal by sophomore Johnathan Matthews. But the Colts tied it with 10 seconds remaining for a dramatic tie.

“The first half, we came out a little flat. We didn’t play with too much energy,” Miller said. “As soon as they scored that third goal, the kids just decided that this is our season, we still had 20 minutes left in the game and they realized they had to do something. We scored right away after that third goal.”

Offensively, juniors Andrew Gallego and Teddy Polkosnik are enjoying breakout seasons after notching just two goals apiece in 2018. Gallego is among the county leaders with 11 tallies, including hat tricks against Valley Stream South (Sept. 5), Long Beach (Sept. 11) and Elmont, while Polkosnik has chipped in six goals.

“It’s definitely fun to see some of the offensive explosion from these guys,” Miller said.

Matthews has also contributed with four goals and two assists and Giovanny Cadet has two goals.

The Eagles have allowed 33 goals in 11 games and Miller said he is hoping to fix his defensive sets during their lengthy layoff, but freshman goaltender Jonas Mata has done a nice job keeping his team in games with 50 saves this season.