The 2025 season hasn’t quite gone the way that Don McGovern, East Hampton’s boys soccer coach, had hoped it would. The team, which is usually a playoff contender was still looking for its first win after playing seven games through Saturday.
“We’re a work in progress,” McGovern said. “They’re young, but also, we’ve been getting unlucky around the goal. We played some really close games — one-goal games — but we’ve come up short.”
East Hampton has totaled just six goals all season, three of which came from Eduardo Calle, a senior midfielder who is in his second year as captain of the team. “We’re getting really solid play from him,” McGovern said.
Adrian Arango, a senior who’d been set to start in goal, is injured at the moment, and Brandon Encalada, a junior who’s in his second year on varsity, has stepped up in his place.
Bonac boys soccer has had one victory, though: Yandel Parra, who had collapsed at school in January and later underwent heart surgery, was just cleared to return to sports and played his first game back against Comsewogue this past weekend. The senior midfielder didn’t play the whole game, McGovern said, “but he gave us some quality minutes. He’s doing great, and it’s a positive that he’s back out there doing what he loves to do.”
McGovern is particularly looking forward to East Hampton’s home game today against Bellport High School, which was recently reclassified from the large-schools division into East Hampton’s league. “We can play with everyone,” the coach said. “We just have to limit our mistakes and capitalize on our chances.”
