Conference title for Long Beach

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Long Beach headed into the Nassau Class A boys’ soccer playoffs with hopes of a deep run following its first conference championship since 2017, but the Marines, seeded third in the 20-team tournament, were one of four early upset victims.

No. 14-seed Kennedy scored once in each half Oct. 21 and earned a 2-0 victory under the lights at Long Beach Middle School. It was only the second time the Marines (9-2-2 overall) were blanked this season.

“You want to be hungry and healthy entering the playoffs, and we had some injuries that caught up with us,” Long Beach coach Leo Palacio said. “Give Kennedy credit. They were a little bit faster and more physical. Our kids kept pressing and we had three excellent chances over the final 20 minutes. We just couldn’t score.”

It was a difficult ending to a memorable season, Palacio said. The Marines finished atop the 12-team Conference A-Central, with their only loss coming against South Side midway through the campaign.

“It was a tremendous race for the conference title and it came down to the last game for four teams,” Palacio explained. “The guys came through with a big win over Hewlett and we held on to first place. Nobody picked us to win it. We just grinded. We were bending but never breaking. Some games we didn’t score until the last 10 minutes, but we found a way.”

Long Beach allowed just five goals in 11 conference games and posted 7 shutouts. Senior goalkeeper Avie Mann was a consistent strength between the pipes, Palacio said, and won’t be easy to replace. “Avie played very well as expected,” Palacio said. “He was solid.”

Defense was the driving force throughout the season, the coach noted, led by seniors Aran Corbett and Denis Moreno, junior Alex Castro and sophomore Braedon Konop. “Aran was our catalyst in the back but all those guys had great years,” Palacio said. “We didn’t have a ton of scoring. We relied on the defense and Avie in goal to keep us in every game.”

The four senior captains — Corbett, Mann, Ryder Moore-Lukaszweski and Mike Contreras — were responsible for the Marines wearing an armband honoring the memory of 2018 Long Beach graduate Scott Gernhardt, the goalkeeper on the program’s last conference title-winning team who passed away last November.

“It was the captains’ idea and a wonderful gesture,” Palacio said. “They wore armbands with Scott’s initials ‘SG’ and number ’44.’ They wanted to carry his memory with them all season and we dedicated the conference championship to him.”

Moore-Lukaszweski was Long Beach’s leading scorer with 6 goals and 9 assists. “Ryder had an outstanding season at both ends of the field,” Palacio said. Junior Ryan Fitzgerald had 4 goals, and Contreras and senior Yeris Miranda added 3 goals apiece. Mann totaled 72 saves.

“Of course we wanted to make noise in the playoffs, but I’m really proud of the guys,” Palacio said. “We’re losing a great senior group, but our JV went undefeated and hopefully some of those kids will help us next year.”