Kya Condon scores twice as Shoreham-Wading River wins Suffolk Class A girls soccer title

 Back in August, the Shoreham-Wading River girls soccer team had what it thought was going to be just another preseason meeting. A chance to sync up before practice and spend a little time building team chemistry.

              But coach Michael Gengler pulled something up on the smartboard in the classroom that had no images of a soccer ball. No video of an opponent and nothing to focus on in training.

              It was a picture of the playoff bracket. But the bracket had a twist the players weren’t expecting. It showed the host site – Shoreham-Wading River. The championship locations are determined before the season, regardless of team success. All the girls had to do from there was make the final and they’d have a chance to celebrate on their home field.

              “All you see is county championships at Shoreham-Wading River so we had it circled and we said, ‘This is where we are going to get and this is how we are going to do it,’” forward Kya Condon said. “And each day we worked for that picture in mind.”

              That motivator proved beneficial throughout the season as Shoreham-Wading River earned the top seed. The Wildcats not only reached the final but won it all with a 3-1 victory over No. 2 East Islip in the Suffolk Class A final on its home field Tuesday evening.

              Said Ava Gengler, “We were not losing on our home field.”

              Shoreham-Wading River (16-2-1) advances to play MacArthur (13-0-2) in the Long Island Class A championship/Southeast Regional Final at Berner Middle School Saturday at 1:30 p.m. East Islip finishes 15-3. The Wildcats won their first county title since 2019, a year they went on to win a state crown.

              “From the beginning, we knew this team was special and we were going to do great things,” senior defender Jessica Nastasi said. “This is kind of a long time coming.”

              The Wildcats wasted little time Tuesday when Condon headed a goal off a corner kick from Nastasi to give Shoreham-Wading River a 1-0 lead with 35:41 left in the first half. Ava Gengler thought the moment that goal happened, a championship was just a matter of when – not if.

              “The second she headed it, I hugged her and said, ‘We are going to win,” Ava Gengler said. “We won counties. It was a big goal.”

              Gengler scored the second goal off an assist from Abigail Beran with 21:07 left in the first half. Condon added another goal, coming off an assist from GraceAnn Leonard, to make it 3-0 with 8:35 left in the second half.

              “She’s basically the heart of this team,” Michael Gengler said of Condon. “Her leadership, poise and composure and being on the state team in 2019 certainly showed the underclassmen how to act. That’s an asset to have to any team.”

              Mikayla Horton headed in a goal off a cross from Kate Alexander with 5:07 left in the second half for East Islip.

              “I’m insanely proud of us but throughout the whole season we’ve always knew this moment was coming,” said Ava Gengler, Michael’s niece. “And any time I talked to one of my teammates, we weren’t scared and we told each other we were going to win.”

              Nastasi, Annie Sheehan,  Mia Gengler and Grace Hillis  had a strong defensive game to limit the scoring chances for the very talented East Islip offense. Morgan Lesiewicz made 11 saves.