East Hampton’s boys soccer team was 1-1-1 in League VI play as of Monday and 3-1-1 over all. In action last week, the boys were tied 2-2 at Eastport-South Manor, lost 2-0 here to Comsewogue Friday, and routed New Rochelle 7-1 in a nonleague game played at Jericho High School on Saturday.
Though it attacked perhaps three-quarters of the time here Friday — East Hampton had far more throw-ins, for example, than the visitors — advancing the ball on the ground with deft passes, the boys soccer team wasn’t able to penetrate Comsewogue’s stiff defense. “We did have our opportunities,” Don McGovern, Bonac’s coach, said by phone over the weekend, “but obviously we didn’t make the most of them.”
Meanwhile, Comsewogue’s tall center back, Aiden Bayer, put a contested corner kick past East Hampton’s screened goalie, Adrian Arrango, in the 33rd minute, and, in the 44th, Dylan Raspanti made it 2-0, blasting a 20-yard free kick over a “wall” of defenders into the upper right corner of East Hampton’s nets.
“Bayer was their man,” said McGovern, “a tough match-up for anyone, and when we were on the attack they got their defenders behind the ball and marked us well when we got near the box.”
While their first loss of the season was disappointing, East Hampton’s players were quick to shake it off, evidenced by their 7-1 nonleague win over New Rochelle the next day. Brian Tacuri led the scoring parade with two goals. John Bustamente, Alex Farez, Nolan Serrano, Ariel Garcia, and David Moreno each had one.
“New Rochelle was a good team,” said McGovern, agreeing that he could have used some of those goals in the Comsewogue game. “Like us, they played the ball on the ground, though our kids were better ball-handlers.”
The team is to play Rocky Point here on Thursday.
