South Side ousted in PKs

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A South Side boys’ soccer season filled with much promise ended suddenly with a marathon opening round Nassau Class A playoff home defeat to Floral Park last Friday.
After the match remained tied following 110 minutes, Floral Park and South Side traded punches in penalty kicks before the visitors broke through in the ninth round. Floral Park goalie Sean Hallock made the first save of the shootout and the Knights sealed the win with a converted kick moments later.
The season-ending loss 9-8 in penalty kicks came after the Cyclones finished just one point behind Long Beach and Lynbrook atop the Conference A Central standings with a 9-2-1 record to earn the fifth seed in the Class A playoffs. It marked the second straight season South Side’s season ended in the round of 16 in penalty kicks with Long Beach knocking off the Cyclones last season after the team went 11-0-1 league play.
“It was a great group of young men to be around and it is disappointing that it ended way too quickly,” said second-year South Side coach Patrick Corvetti. “I felt this team could have gone much further than it did so it’s a huge disappointment.”
South Side struck first with a first half goal from defender Matt Buglione on a header off a free kick from Mike Belfonte. The Cyclones held the lead until about 13 minutes left when Connor McCarthy struck a shot in from about 18 yards away.

The Cyclones dominated the two overtime sessions with plenty of scoring opportunities, but were unable to convert one past Hallock, who recorded 11 saves on the evening for Plainedge. “We pretty dominated the overtime and just couldn’t put it away,” Corvetti said.
The South Side backline stood strong led by Ryan Walsh, Cyprian Motyl, Belfonte and Buglione along with senior goalie Jack Phelan, who registered five saves. The defense posted seven shutouts on the season 
“That was the strongest part of our team that day,” said Corvetti of his defensive unit. 
The setback to Plainedge brought an end to the high school soccer careers of 12 seniors which included the team’s big offensive leaders in Ryan McNicholas, Gavin Goodlad and Danny Walter. Goodlad had a huge year with 13 goals and 8 assists. Corvetti credited his seniors with instilling a positive culture within the program since he took over as head coach last year on and off the field producing connections that will carry forward long past the South Side High School days.
“We had a lot of good team bonding events going to the Tunnel to Towers run and bowling and pasta dinners,” said Corvetti, a former South Side boys player who graduated in 1991. “Obviously we want to win, but I think a lot of these boys built lifetime friendships this season. I’m still friends with four of the guys from when I graduated from South Side and after the dust has settled I’m trying to focus on some positives and that is definitely one of them.”