Amityville races to second straight Suffolk boys soccer crown
Amityville forward Stanley Louis looks to get past two Half Hollow Hills West defenders in the Suffolk boys Class A Finals, Thursday, November 3, 2022 at Comsewougue High School. Credit: George A Faella
The boys soccer season has entered that crucial phase in which every game becomes more important than the last and every opponent just a shade better than the one just dispatched. It is a time when teams show their resourcefulness and determination. On Thursday night, Amityville had both qualities in spades.
The squad that had prevailed with a patient possession style and crisp passing in winning a semifinal early in the week transformed itself into a pack of highly skilled speed demons against Half Hollow Hills West and raced past the Colts for a 3-1 victory in the Suffolk Class A championship game at Comsewogue’s Tom Cassese Athletic Field.
Amityville (17-1-1) won the county championship for the seventh time and the second straight season. If the celebration seemed a bit muted, it’s because many of the players return from a team that lost in the state title game last fall.
Amityville will face Glen Cove in Sunday’s Long Island championship game at Mitchel Athletic Complex.
“You have to be able to win playing different styles at this time of year,” Amityville coach Mike Abbondondolo said. “This group is on a mission and it does whatever it has to do.”
“Their speed on the turf was really impressive,” Hills West coach Doug Gannon said. “If we’d made more of a couple early chances, maybe scored first, it changes what unfolded. They showed they are the defending champ.”
One second-half scene embodied what Amityville was able to do against the Colts (12-4-2). Hills West had just failed to convert on a chance and Amityville had the ball on the other end in seconds. Stanley Louis’ shot was turned away by Colts goalie Dylan Seltzer, but Laurent Desir was right in front to drill the rebound into the net. It was the game- breaker, putting Amityville up 3-0, and it came in an instant.
“Speed was our key factor,” Amityville’s Roberth Perez said.
Added Alan Funez: “Teams don’t know how fast we can be until they are on the field with us.”
The early going was a taut exchange of Amityville possessions that were high on crafty ballhandling and powerful, physical Colts forays to the net. Hills West had a pair of balls go off the post in the first half but didn’t convert, and Amityville broke through behind its scoring stars.
Perez headed a long pass from Edwin Acosta to Hugo Rodriguez, who hammered in a 15-yard shot to make it 1-0 in the 23rd minute. Seven minutes later, Perez took a long throw-in and juked his defender to make it 2-0.
“Roberth and I have been playing together since the sandbox,” Rodriguez said. “We have chemistry.”
Hills West got on the board with 6:28 to play when Marco D’Alessandro redirected Matheos Anagnostopoulos’ direct kick into the lower left corner, but the Colts got no closer.
“This was great, but there is more to do,” Funez said. “We want to celebrate something even bigger.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
