Hewlett girls soccer overcomes bus woes to beat East Meadow

The Hewlett girls soccer team hasn’t had the best luck with buses this season. For the second time this year, Hewlett had a bus break down  en route to a game. But being they’ve been in this situation before, the Bulldogs knew what to do. After pulling over at an elementary school, they stretched and even played on the school’s ground while waiting for the next bus to arrive.

        The second bus took about 20 minutes but the players weren’t concerned. They remained focused on the task at hand – avenging an early-season loss. 

         “We all just focused on what we were going to do,” said Marcie Iannico, a senior forward. “We didn’t get too excited, we just wanted to keep our composure.”

        “I’ve been coaching over 20 years and this is the first time I've had buses break down on us in the season,” coach Gil Kreiss said. “It’s been crazy.”

      Although Hewlett had limited time to warm up, the players came out ready in a 2-1 victory over host East Meadow in Nassau Conference IV girls soccer on Thursday. The game started 40 minutes late and was stopped with 15:46 left in the contest due to darkness, but it still counts as an official game.

      East Meadow, which defeated Hewlett 3-2 in the conference opener, struck first when Cameron Gilmor scored with 24:10 left in the first half.

Jane Marshalik answered with an 18-yard strike after one-touching a pass from Rebecca Sult to tie the score at 1 with 7:07 left in the first half for Hewlett (5-3-1). East Meadow is 4-2-1.

      “I saw a bunch of girls in front of me and I just really wanted to get the ball in the back of the net,” Marshalik said. “I yelled at the girl in front of me to pass me the ball and it just happened. I had an opening and I took it.”

        Iannico scored the winner after fielding a long pass in the air from Marshalik. Iannico split two defenders and got around the charging goalkeeper to score the winner two minutes into the second half.

          “I just saw an opening and I knew we had to get that goal,” said Iannico, who leads Nassau with 15 goals. “I kind of just cut around them and I had to use my speed and my advantages to get there.”

          “She has that knack for scoring,” Kreiss said. “She’s just a workhorse and when she has the opportunity to go to goal and take her shot, her shot’s lethal.”

       Although it wasn’t easy getting to East Meadow, Kreiss was confident the girls would make the best of the situation. Hopefully for the Bulldogs, bad things won’t come in threes.

          “They are good at hanging out, they like each other,” Kreiss said. “This team has a good dynamic.”