Ward Melville Boys Soccer Out Of Playoffs With 1-0 Loss To Smithtown West



Despite a strong second half offensive attack, Ward Melville (10-2-2, 10-4-2 League I) was unable to put any goals on the scoreboard as they fell to Smithtown West (12-0-2, 14-0-2 League III) Friday afternoon 1-0 at Robert W. Pratt Field.

Ward Melville coach Jon Stecker said his team lost because of a problem they've faced all year, not being able to put the ball in the back of the net.

"We can't hit the net," he said. "If you can't hit the net you're not going to score goals. It's something we've been struggling with all year and it came back to bite us."

"Our defense came out and played but our offense was non-existent," said Ward Melville junior captain Shane Dineen. "They beat us to every 50-50 ball, they destroyed us today. They were stronger than us and we couldn't get anything off."

Senior captain Matt Kerman had four saves in the loss.

Despite the loss, Stecker is already looking ahead to next season.

"We're a young group, I'm looking forward to bringing them back next year," Stecker said. "We have three seniors that are graduating, everybody else is coming back."

The lone goal of the game came off the foot of Smithtown West senior captain Jesse Lyons with more than five minutes left to play in the first half.

"It was off a rebound, I came around and was trailing it and I just put it in," Lyons said. "Without the help of my teammates it wouldn't have happened."

Although the Bulls only scored once against a tough Ward Melville team, Lyons said that goal gave his team the momentum needed to sustain the lead and get the win.

"We came into the game thinking we had all the momentum in the world, we needed to keep the fire up and we needed to keep the pressure up the whole game," he said. "After that goal it just intensified, we had that fire the whole game."

As the Ward Melville offensive attack picked up in the second half, so did the Smithtown West defense as they managed to fend off their opponents' attacks and hold on to a slim lead. Lyons said the defense was confident they could keep Ward Melville off the scoreboard.