Patti Stein's Copiague squad taking little steps

The Suffolk field hockey playoffs begin this week. Copiague will not be involved.

Still, after a 1-0 victory over North Babylon in Tuesday's season finale, "it felt like we won a national championship," Eagles coach Patti Stein said. "That's how big that was for us."

Big, for a team long known to appreciate the little things. That win, which brought Copiague's record to 2-14, was only its fourth since 2009. Before that, the program had gone winless from 1999.

Tearful bus rides were something they grew accustomed to, the players said, and one of the challenges was finding new ways to encourage themselves. Naturally, there were the emotions that build with the disheartening defeats.

"We're competitive people," senior Rachel Matos said. "We want to win! You're thinking, 'What's it gonna take? When will it happen?' "

Moral victories were taken in lieu of ones on their record, and even the slightest of positives -- "Like using proper technique on a hit," defender Janet Fuentes said -- was considered solace. "It does get frustrating sometimes, but we don't hang our heads," she said. "We want to get better."

Stein was successful in her playing days. She won two county championships with Sachem High School in the late 1980s and starred at Duke. As a coach now, she has turned the letters W-I-N into an acronym. "Winning for us," she said, "is working hard, improving and never giving up."

SEE PHOTOSCopiague 1, North Babylon 0

Copiague has made strides. The school established a middle school program in 2006 and a junior varsity three years ago. The 11th-graders, Samantha Perez said, were the first group to go through the program "and we've developed more skills. Once we get more kids up who've come through the ranks, we're going to start winning."

The Eagles' close games speak to that development. Copiague played seven overtime contests, including four that went to penalty strokes. "Those were games that could've gone either way," said junior Ashley Arquer, who suggested a record close to .500 was possible.

Copiague broke through against Greenport-Southold-Shelter Island on Oct. 22, when Natalina Sagliocca and Jenna Sapienza scored in strokes. "Just to be able to go home and say, 'We won' is an amazing feeling," said Sapienza, whose penalty stroke won the North Babylon game, allowing the Eagles to finish on a two-game win streak.

"I don't think it's gonna be long before they break out like we did," Greenport coach Todd Gulluscio said. His team, which had its share of winless seasons, went 10-6 and made the playoffs this year.

So on the bus ride after that game, "we went a little crazy," midfielder Manowara Mattuber said. "But we deserved it."

Jackie Clemens and Diane Lam are among the seniors who've endured, and they insist the future is bright. And should there be a day when Copiague is mentioned among the better teams in Division II?

"We'll have truly earned it because of where we've been and how much it's taken to improve," sophomore goalie Stephanie Fischer said. "We have nowhere to go but up."