East Hampton Soccer Wins First State Match

The East Hampton High School boys soccer team won its New York State Final Four match Saturday, sailing to a 3-0 victory over Jamesville-DeWitt, and will play for the state Class A championship Sunday.

Nick West scored two of Bonac's goals and Esteban Valverde scored the third.

• For game photos, click here.

West scored first in the 10th minute of play when he shot from about eight yards out. A defender deflected it, and it went in; West was credited with the goal. Five minutes later, Valverde brought the ball up from the right, and West put it in the goal with a low diving header, making it 2-0.

West, East Hampton's scoring star, was stepped on later in the half and sat out the entire second half with an ice pack on his left ankle. It was unclear if he would be able to play on Sunday.

Valverde stepped up again in the second half, when, in the 55th minute of play, he took a through pass from Bryan Oreamuno, dribbled it around Jamesville-DeWitt's goalie, and put it in from right to left from six or seven yards out.

Bonac's defenders were terrific all day, with Oreamuno, the middleback, prominent among them. And East Hampton's fans also deserve some credit. Some 200 made the trip upstate, filling two buses and driving their own cars.

On Sunday, East Hampton will play the winner of a game against Byram Hills of Armonk and Greece Athena of Rochester. If the Bonackers win, it would be the first New York State championship ever for East Hampton soccer, which was established in 1977.

Update: Greece Athena won its semifinal game midway through a sudden-death overtime following a 1-1 tie in regulation play. East Hampton will play Greece Athena Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

With Reporting by Jack Graves

For photos from the game, click here.