Nisic's goal lifts Great Neck South over Mepham
Great Neck South's Ron Hauser looks to move ball downfield during his team's 1-0 over Mepham. (Oct. 25, 2010) Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
There wasn't much on the line for Great Neck South Monday. The Rebels already had locked up the second seed in the Nassau Class AA boys soccer playoffs and a first-round bye. They had clinched the Conference III championship.
The one motivating factor was an unbeaten conference season. It wasn't easy, but Great Neck South accomplished it with a 1-0 home win over Mepham in boys soccer.
"We really wanted to be undefeated," junior Dino Nisic said. "It's great to remember your high school experience and say your team was undefeated. I feel great to be a part of it."
Nisic provided the goal 3:52 into the second half. He blocked a clearing attempt and blasted a shot from just outside the box past Mepham keeper Steve Fotinos, who made 10 saves to keep the Pirates in the game.
"The ball came back to me,'' Nisic said, "and I just ripped it to the bottom left."
Great Neck South (11-1-2, 11-0-1) had numerous scoring chances in the first half and couldn't finish. Shots were stopped by Fotinos, sent over the net or went wide.
"We had a couple of chances, but Mepham is a good team," Great Neck South's Evan Savell said. "We definitely have some things to work on, and we're fortunate we have more than a week before our first game. I think we're in pretty good shape."
Mepham (8-5-1, 7-4-1) will host a first-round game Sunday. GNS has a bye into the quarterfinals and will host a game Nov. 3. The Rebels lost in the quarterfinals last season and in the first round two years ago.
"We thought about resting guys, but it means something to other teams, so we didn't want anybody to have a gripe," GNS coach James Millevoi said. "It's also rare you get a chance to go undefeated. Our opponent played hard, but this was our sloppiest game of the year. If we play like this in the playoffs, we're going to have our hands full. We just couldn't put them away and they gave us a tough fight. We have to learn from a lot of these mistakes. We have nine days to make corrections."
