Seaford Boys Soccer Drop Tough Road Game at Mineola

The Seaford boys soccer team struggled out of the gate Monday afternoon, dropping a tough 6-1 loss to Mineola at Mineola High School.

Faced with a steady rain and a ferocious Mineola Mustang attack, the Vikings could not find enough traction Monday to stay in contention with the conference VII leaders.

While Mineola was able to net six goals in the game, Seaford head coach Ralph Pascarella noted that he didn't "think we gave up" during the rain-soaked contest. The Vikings let up three early goals to the Mustangs in the first 15 minutes, which put Seaford in a hole it could not get out of.

Several players for Seaford took cracks at Mineola keeper Filipe Ribeiro in the first half, although none found their way through. One of the best chances for Seaford came off of a cross shortly after Mineola netted its third goal. Bouncing through the box, several Seaford players took a crack at the ball, only to watch it eventually deflect out and get cleared.

Junior Ray Schaffner almost got an open look at goal towards the end of the half, taking his first touch at the top of the 18-yard box before the wet grass caused him to just misdirect the ball to a Mineola defender before he could get back to it.

Schaffner also supplied a few nice crosses in the first half, showing a good mettle in a difficult, rainy situation.

The Vikings finally broke through early in the second half when junior Conor Anderson beat the Mineola keeper. Kicking an absolute rocket, Anderson put enough touch on the ball to put it over Mineola's goalie Filipe Ribeiro, and just enough to put it off the underside of the top bar and into the net.

Although the Vikings did not find the net again in the second half, the team held Mineola to only two goals and played a fairly even second half.

In goal, senior Mike Kalista had a rough day letting in six goals, but he also managed to make a string of beautiful saves that could have also found the back of the net. He ended the day with seven saves in net.

Two of Kalista's saves came on a nice run-out. Coming out to stop the Mineola attack, Kalista managed to bounce the ball off of his leg and back towards midfield. When another Mineola player put a touch on the ball, Kalista continued to move out, and sliding again, managed to deflect the ball back to his defense so they could clear the ball.

Senior Kraig Bush managed two good free-kicks during the game. Midway through the second half, Bush's kick sailed over the top of Ribeiro's hands, but could not dip under the top bar. A second kick towards the end of the game managed to go on target, but unfortunately found its way into the hands of Ribeiro.

After the game, Pascarella said that the game is "going to help us" in the long run. Talking about what he wants the team to work on, he said "we have to keep it simple" and that the team has to "defend" better.

Seaford falls to 1-3-0 in conference play, and 2-4-0 overall. Seaford returns to action Wednesday at home against Clarke with kickoff set for 4:30 p.m.