Girls Varsity Soccer Falls to Islip in Second Round, Ending Their Season
The starting lineup is huddling before the game. Photo by Kane Lewandowski
Yesterday, on a sunny, yet brisk fall day, the Hills West girls varsity soccer team played the Islip girls varsity soccer team in the first round of the 2018 playoffs.
The Hills West girls were highly motivated coming off of their first individual playoff win in school history since Hills West and Hills East separated into 2 teams. The Islip girls varsity team was equally galvanized to defend their home field and the Hills West girls’ momentum slowed as teammate Amanda Rooney was charged with a red card, twenty minutes into the game. This shocked the team, and they struggled to regain control of the game as they were forced to play the rest of the a player down. Throughout the game, the defense was tremendous on both sides, and the offenses were becoming frustrated. As the offenses continued to struggle, it was easy to depict that this game was going to come down to the wire. Just when Hills West was gaining momentum, a penalty resulted in a penalty kick against Hills West and goal keeper, Alexa Hinke. The shot was on target, but so was Hinke as she made a tremendous, athletic play on the ball and made the save. The Hills West bench erupted and the girls were fired up at the sight of the save. The girls’ momentum didn’t last long, however, because as things began to look up for Hills West, Islip scored the one and only goal of the game. The girls kept fighting until the final whistle blew, but it was not enough to capture the win on the road and their season was unfortunately over.
Although they lost the game, the girls over-achieved this season after not making the playoffs last year and their future looks bright.
Written By: Alexander Steele
