Terino's goal lifts East Meadow past Farmingdale
East Meadow's Scarlett Espinosa (foreground) celebrates her goal with Myla McLeod, who got the assist, during a Nassau Conference AAI girls soccer game on March 15, 2021. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
If you ask Emma Terino, it wasn’t a great ball. But the scoreboard told a different story.
With the score tied at 2 in the closing minutes, Terino remembered East Meadow girls soccer coach Adam Hananel telling her at halftime she needed to be more aggressive. Hananel told Terino there was an open shot she should have taken, but she didn’t -- even though they worked on that at practice.
Terino wasn’t going to pass up on this one. The senior took a chance and scored the game’s final goal from 30 yards out with 3:32 remaining in the second half as East Meadow defeated host Farmingdale, 3-2, in Nassau Conference AA-I girls soccer Monday.
"I saw an opening so I just said, ‘Why not. It’s now or never,’" Terino said. "It either goes in or it doesn’t. I just had to take a chance."
But even though the ball got past the goalkeeper, Terino didn’t initially think it was a strong shot.
"Actually, it didn’t feel that good," Terino said. "The ball felt flat and I didn’t think it was going to go in at first. I felt like it was really weak but the fact it got past the goalie, I was so excited about that. It was great to break the tie and get the winning goal."
East Meadow (1-2) tied the score at 2 after Myla McLeod took on and defeated multiple defenders for a goal five minutes into the second half.
"I really don’t think when I start running, but I just try to see the field and take players on," said McLeod, who is committed to play at Vanderbilt. "And then obviously, you have to look at the net to finish the final goal."
McLeod also helped create the Jets’ first goal. She led a run down the left sideline and found Scarlett Espinosa with 25:37 remaining in the opening half to tie the score at 1. Farmingdale (0-3) scored two minutes into the game on Emma Best’s penalty kick.
"We always know we can count on each other to make something happen in the game," Espinosa said. "I know I can trust her to get a good ball in, that’s why I made that run, and it led to a goal, which was really uplifting."
Farmingdale took a 2-1 lead with Ashley Pantano’s goal off Best’s assist with 2:55 remaining in the first half.
Jennah Farooki, an eighth-grader, had eight saves, including multiple pivotal point-blank stops to keep East Meadow in the contest.
"She did really great today," McLeod said. "Coming from such a young age and being able to play with older girls and having that confidence to make some crucial saves was awesome."
