THE
LADY BEARS POSE WITH THEIR PLAQUE AFTER WINNING THE REGIONAL CLASS 'C' FINALS
SOCCER TITLE
PHOTO COURTESY OF KAREN SINGER
They had been here before. A county Class 'C' championship. A win over a Nassau county team in the state playoffs. A trip to the regional final, just one win away from the final four. In 2007, The Stony Brook School girls' soccer team lost that regional final, giving up a last minute goal to the eventual state champions. Almost all of the players from that team returned this year, and over the past two weeks, the Lady Bears followed the same path to the regional final. A 1-0 win over Pierson on a sudden death goal in the fourth OT. A 2-1 win over Friends Academy, the game winner coming with just two minutes to play. A return to the regional final. But this time, this past Saturday, the ending was different.
After a long day of steady rain, the Lady Bears took to a wet and slippery turf field in Yorktown Heights in upstate New York and came away with a hard fought 2-1 victory over Section I representative, North Salem High School, earning them the first state final four appearance in the program's history.
North Salem opened the scoring, floating a shot over the head of Stony Brook goalie Danielle Pappas (East Setauket). But the Lady Bears didn't let that goal get them down. With just two minutes to go in the first half, freshman Tina Stavola (Setauket) fired a shot into the corner of the net and evened the game at one.
In the second half, the Bears struck early, just six minutes in, as senior Karina Scavo (Mount Sinai), an all-state player, scored on a long, powerful shot on a direct kick. For the rest of the half, North Salem pressed, getting repeated shots on goal, but the staunch defense of junior Sadie Singer (Stony Brook), sophomore Brannon Burke (Port Jefferson), and senior Amanda Louro (Nissequogue) frustrated their opponents. Sophomore Pappas stopped several shots, including making one fully extended, diving deflection to protect the lead.
KARINA SCAVO (MOUNT
SINAI) IN MOTION MICHELLE
HENNESSY (STONY BROOK)
FOR THE GAME-WINNING PENALTY DIRECT KICK
PHOTOS COURTESY OF KAREN SINGER
Coach Jeremy Meserole, a 1996 alum of The Stony Brook School, held up four fingers to the camera filming the game as the clock wound down. After the game he said, "This was the next step and the girls have worked hard to have this opportunity. Everyone on the field put forth a great effort tonight and they were rewarded with victory."
Stony Brook will play in the Class 'C' State semifinal game against Section V representative York High School. The game will be played, Friday, November 14 at 5:15 Pm at Homer High School in Homer, NY, just outside of Cortland. The winner will advance to the state championship game.
See Newsday write-up. More pictures on Life at the Brook.
