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A Few Clouds and Breezy Oceanside's rally falls short
Six weeks after Oceanside rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat Westbury, the Sailors found themselves in a deeper hole against the Green Dragons in Sunday’s Nassau Class AA boys’ soccer semifinal matchup at Mitchel Athletic Complex.
Down by three early in the second half, second-seeded Oceanside struck twice in the 49th minute and fought like crazy to get the equalizer but it never materialized in a season-ending 4-2 defeat. Edison Arias Velasquez sealed No. 3 Westbury’s first trip to the county championship game with an insurance goal with 1:39 remaining. It was his second goal of the day and team-leading 12th of the season.
The Green Dragons (11-4-1), who fell 4-2 at Oceanside on Sept. 21 after holding a 2-0 lead, were cruising in the rematch after Velasquez’s first goal gave them a 3-0 advantage less than seven minutes into the second half. Jeffrey Moran and Edwin Escobar tallied in the first half.
However, the Sailors (10-2-4) lifted themselves up quickly and in the blink of an eye it was 3-2. They scored two goals in 26 seconds. Senior David Acker and junior Ethan Recchia both popped in their sixth goals of the campaign and gave Oceanside newfound hope with more than 31 minutes still on the clock.
“It’s not easy to pick yourself up from three goals down, but I kept reminding the guys of the day we rallied against Westbury,” Sailors coach Patrick Turk said. “We just had to relax and play. We got ourselves right back in it and kept pushing. We had their goalie looking nervous. We just couldn’t get one more.”
Oceanside reached the semis on the strength of a convincing 3-0 victory over No. 7 Hicksville at home on Oct. 27. Working behind a defense comprised of Chris Evans, Dean Rodriguez, Jake Christel and Owen Joyce, junior goalkeeper Scott Campuzano (8 saves) posted a third straight shutout. Campuzano combined with junior Jacob Raphan on two others. Acker, senior Ryan Profitlich and junior Dan Santos had the goals, and senior Chris Evans a pair of assists.
Campuzano and Raphan, who saw action late in Sunday’s semifinal after Campuzano suffered from back spasms, combined for shutouts against East Meadow (6-0 win) and Syosset (scoreless draw) down the stretch of the regular season.
The Sailors lost their second conference game of the season to Baldwin but then went unbeaten in their next 11. They finished with a Class AA best plus-23 goal differential in conference play.
“I’m so proud of these guys and the effort they put in,” Turk said. “It’s a special group. They supported each other and pushed each other all season long to be better.
“They dreamed big and left it all on the field,” he added.
