East Meadow rises to top
Nicolette Tortorici endured a winless season in her first year as the East Meadow girls’ soccer coach back in 2021. Three years later, she has them on the cusp of a conference championship.
The Jets have a stranglehold on first place in Conference AAA/AA-4 with five games left thanks to an 8-1 division mark (9-1 overall), including a huge 6-0 win over second-place Glen Cove on Sept. 26 to sweep the season series. East Meadow dealt the Big Red (6-3-1, 6-2-1 conference) both of their conference losses after a 3-1 triumph on Sept. 6.
The Jets are also vying for their first playoff appearance under Tortorici. They went 11-2-1 in 2022, but didn’t qualify for the postseason because AA teams that don’t finish first must win at least 85 percent of their games to advance.
“We finally found our flow,” Tortorici said. “We had great momentum going into the season. We have a bunch of young, very talented players and our couple of veteran players have really shown them the ropes and it’s all been working for us.”
One of those young players has been eighth grader Charli Tesoriere, who has taken the league by storm with 17 goals and three assists, including her second straight hat trick in the most recent Glen Cove game. She has 11 tallies in her last four games and four hat tricks this season.
Tesoriere missed the Jets’ only loss of 2024, a 1-0 setback at Jericho on Sept. 14.
“She is really unbelievable,” Tortorici said. “Her work ethic and her soccer IQ is just through the roof. And for only being 13 years old, it’s really wild how well she can read plays and read players. It’s something that every player should strive to be like.”
Tesoriere’s emergence has eased the scoring burden off of sophomore Ella Giordano (7-1-8) and senior veteran Rachel Nasshorn (7-14-21), a 16-goal scorer two seasons ago who accepted her role as more of a facilitator.
“Rachel has definitely changed gears this year, and I know it wasn’t easy for her,” Tortorici said. “It’s not all about scoring goals. You can still be a great player and be a playmaker and the last game, after I had a conversation with her, it finally clicked and three assists and two goals kind of speaks for itself.”
Nasshorn has had two straight three-assist games and five goals and eight helpers during a four-game points streak. Giordano is riding a three-game goal streak into this week’s action and sophomore Emily Klin has added four goals for the Jets, who have outscored the opposition 21-2 in the first half this season.
Hard-working freshman Vanessa Tomack has two goals and is effective at multiple positions. Kellenberg transfer Zoe Pedicini has been “dominant” on the left side and is dependable on set plays and corner kicks.
Senior goalkeeper Jennah Farooki has made 33 saves with three shutouts and has been helped on defense by sophomore Peyton Chester, junior Kaylee Pirozzi, and senior Casey Henry. East Meadow has allowed just 10 goals all season.
