Young Massapequa tempers expectations

Massapequa has been synonymous with girls’ soccer greatness for two decades.

The numbers are staggering.

The Chiefs have won 18 Nassau County titles over the past 21 years, including the last three. They’ve claimed 11 Long Island championships and seven New York State crowns since 2003.

They’re the Yankees, the Cowboys and the Lakers all rolled into one.

And while, like those other sports dynasties, the bullseye will always be on Massapequa. This year, things are different.

“We have a very young team, probably the youngest team I’ve coached here in 22 years,” Massapequa head coach Bruce Stegner said. “We have a lot of sophomores and freshmen getting a lot of playing time.”

As such, there’s no surprises for Stegner in the early stages of the season. Not the 3-2-1 overall record, not the difficulties in the attacking third which have seen the Chiefs score five goals in six matches.

Nothing.

“I expected to have some struggles and a big learning curve. That’s kind of what we’re dealing with right now,” Stegner said. “My goal going through the season was to be over .500 in our conference. That’s a little more mild expectations than what we used to.”

After opening the 2024 season with a 1-1 draw at Oceanside, Massapequa claimed a pair of 1-0 victories over Monroe-Woodbury and West Genesee before suffering a 1-0 defeat to Kellenberg.

The Chiefs bounced back to beat Calhoun, 1-0, but then fell 3-1 to a Syosset side Stegner conceded is “at this point clearly a better team than us.”

“We just have to improve,” Stegner said. “And we’ve got six weeks to do that.”

Carly Schuler and Kaia Mueller, are co-captains and rare senior starters. Schuler, who scored the county championship-clinching goal in a 2-1 victory over Syosset last year, is sidelined with an ankle injury suffered against Syosset.

And Junior Olivia Trojanowski, who can strike the ball with both feet, has scored just twice in the first six matches.

“We’re struggling to create offense right now,” Stegner said.

Stegner said the goalkeeping duo of Domenica Rasi and Reese Reustle, who split time a year ago, were going to do so again this year. But Rasi is out after minor injuries stemming from a car accident.

Some of the brightest spots of the early portion of the season have come from the roster’s youngest players. Midfielder Juliana Domingo has been a “phenomenal 10th grader,” the coach said, highlighting her distribution and work rate, especially to win balls back.

And then there’s Olivia Morgan, another sophomore starter in midfield, and the Ferguson sisters — Madelyn and Emma — who start in the back as freshmen, joined by sophomore left back Natalie Byrns and junior Hayden Murphy, who is adjusting to a new role as starting center back.

“The results hopefully will come over time, but Rome wasn't built in a day,” Stegner said. “There’s a lot of young girls out there playing.”