The Ward Melville Patriots defeated the Patchogue-Medford girls soccer team 2-0 at Pat-Med High School Monday night.
The Patriots (8-3) got on the board at the 17:49 mark when Caysea Cohen got the ball deep in the Raiders (4-6) zone. Cohen beat keeper Kelly Semon and the ball slowly rolled into the net. Despite the effort of two Raiders' defenders to knock the ball out before it was called a goal, the referee said it had gone deep enough into the net and ruled it 1-0, Patriots.
When play restarted, the Raiders seemed to be caught off guard. Cohen got the ball up the right side and launched a perfect shot from about 30 yards out that sailed past Semon's fingertips and into the back of the net. Just over 20 seconds after the Patriots scored their first goal, they found themselves up 2-0.
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"I felt we were lucky to get two goals," said Patriots coach John Diehl. "Pat-Med is always a tough opponent, especially on this field. We had a couple good plays and capitalized."
The Raiders, on the other hand, failed to capitalize on opportunities like the one handed Jessica Donato near the end of the half. With no more than 30 seconds left in the first half, Donato beat two defenders to get Patriots keeper Ally Ramos one on one. Donato launched a shot from point-blank range, but Ramos, who had 11 saves in the shutout, made a diving save.
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"It's just the mental mistakes we make that we need to improve on," said Raiders head coach Chris Grieco. "I think we played a very good game today. We had two mistakes that hurt us, but all around I think we outplayed them."
The two teams went back and forth in the second half, but neither scored. The Patriots clinched the 2-0 win, their eighth of the season.
"I think it could've been a totally different game," Grieco said. "I think if we score first, the level of play becomes better and it gives us a better chance of winning."
While the loss hurts, the Raiders can still make it to the playoffs with just one game left in the season. They find themselves in a win-and-in situation and can clinch a playoffs spot with a victory over Commack (7-2-1) at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
"We control our own destiny right now," Grieco said. "We win, we're in and that's what we have to do."
