Dylan Raspanti's goal lifts Comsewogue boys soccer over East Hampton
Comsewogue midfield Dylan Raspanti clears the ball away from East Hampton midfield Gary Gutama on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023 at Comsewogue. Credit: George A Faella
Comsewogue loves to play “Dirty Soccer.”
In this case, that’s a good thing.
“We play a game every week called ‘Dirty Soccer’ where we work on balls coming in the box and randomly have to put it back on net,” coach Justin Seifert said. “The boys enjoy that. It’s like a scrappy, who-can-get-the-ball-first mentality. … People call those 'dirty goals.’ They just get snuck by the keeper.”
This team needed to sneak one by the keeper on its home turf Tuesday. Dylan Raspanti did that with 24:51 left in the second half, breaking through in a scoreless game against East Hampton.
And it held up. Comsewogue escaped with a 1-0 Suffolk VI win after a missed penalty kick by the Bonackers in the final minute.
“We really want to get in the playoffs,” said Ryan Worhle, their junior keeper, “so this is the next step to get there.”
Comsewogue is now 5-4 overall and 5-3 in the league, and it now needs one more win to get to the Suffolk AA playoffs. East Hampton fell to 7-2-1 overall and 5-2-1 in the league.
The “2” in the loss column? Well, Comsewogue is responsible for both.
“We’re definitely gritty,” Seifert said. “To beat them twice is about a defensive game.”
After picking up its play following halftime, Comsewogue converted off a corner kick. Julian Dicecco sailed the ball across the box from the right side.
“It was just a perfect ball to get a perfect goal on,” Raspanti said.
The senior center-midfielder headed it past keeper Adrian Arango from about 10 feet away on the left side.
“This win showed our resilience,” Raspanti said. “East Hampton is a very strong team. They came out hard, but we showed our determination to stop them.”
The penalty kick came with 26 seconds showing on the clock. Worhle had made six saves, but he was feeling uneasy.
“I was really nervous,” Worhle said. “I didn’t want to be the reason why we’d lose or tie.”
The hard, straight shot then carried a little too high.
“I was hyped,” Worhle said.
East Hampton had four good scoring chances in the first half, but two shots were off target and Worhle stopped the other two.
“We made it difficult on ourselves,” Bonackers coach Don McGovern said. “… We didn’t have as many opportunities in the second half, but I think we had enough that we should’ve put at least one in.”
