Sherr's goal, assist help Roslyn tie New Hyde Park
Roslyn's Matthew Sherr, who had a goal heads the ball in 2-2 tie. (Oct. 6, 2010) Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
It was shaping up to be another strong performance for Roslyn against one of the top teams in the conference that was going to wind up as a loss. Matthew Sherr made sure that didn't happen.
Sherr had a hand in both goals in helping host Roslyn to a 2-2 tie against New Hyde Park Wednesday in Nassau Conference IV boys soccer.
"I don't think it's a good tie," Sherr said. "We dominated play. We had many more chances than them. We couldn't put it away until the end when we were down."
Roslyn (3-1-3) trailed by a goal twice and it looked bleak when New Hyde Park (4-1-2) took a 2-1 lead with 3:17 left. Seconds after the Gladiators hit a crossbar, Rahul Basu scored.
Roslyn answered when Sherr headed the ball to Brett Hanfling, who scored with 1:37 left.
"We didn't start very well," Sherr said. "We knew we had to fight back. We had to battle back and tie it. We couldn't afford a loss."
Said Roslyn coach Juan Mejia: "It says a lot about our team to come back against a very good team. You can dominate a game and lose, and we were close to losing this game. On a positive note, it's good that we can be down with a few minutes left and tie it."
Roslyn had the better of play in the first half and came away without a goal. The Bulldogs had numerous chances but couldn't convert.
Lucas Santangelo scored his 13th goal of the season with 21:25 left in the game to give New Hyde Park a 1-0 lead.
"Every game I'm getting two or three guys on me," Santangelo said. "I'm just trying to set up my teammates. I think we should have won. The last goal shouldn't have happened."
Roslyn tied it at 1 when New Hyde Park was called for a hand ball in the box. Sherr took the penalty shot and scored with 16:29 left.
"I couldn't miss it," Sherr said. "It was a big PK. We've been getting better lately at finishing goals, but it's going to get tough with the competition ahead."
Sherr and Santangelo were the focal points of the defense, and both came through.
"They focused on [Santangelo],'' New Hyde Park coach Jeff Kaiser said. "At the end he realized he was getting a lot of attention and he started moving the ball and it freed up some of our guys."
It led to the second goal. On the other side, the attention on Sherr helped lead to the tying goal.
"They were throwing several guys at him," Mejia said. "You have to wait a couple of years to get a kid like that. When he gets chances, he makes them count."
