Seaford Boys Soccer Falls At Home to Mineola Despite Strong Effort

The Seaford and Mineola boys soccer teams went to work under the lights on Tuesday night at for an anticipated league match-up.

The visiting Mustangs from Mineola pulled out a 2-0 victory over the Vikings to advance to 4-0-0 overall and 2-0-0 in Conference VII. Seaford dropped to 2-2-0 overall and 1-1-0 in the conference.

“We knew going in that they were going to be very good,” said Seaford head coach Ralph Pascarella. “Our guys worked hard, so if we are going to work this hard against other teams, then we are going to do alright. We had a few chances that we didn’t capitalize on, but the effort was good.”

Mineola dominated on the offensive end right from the start, creating a multitude of chances against Seaford goalkeeper Bryan Graziose, who finished with eight saves. Mineola senior Christian Lird missed two early opportunities, including a free kick from 30 yards out.

In the 24^th minute, Seaford defender Conor Anderson grazed a loose ball with his hand in the box, setting up a penalty kick for Mineola. Lird stepped up and put a shot in the lower left corner past Graziose to give his team a 1-0 lead.

In the early minutes of the second half, Mineola senior Paul Sandoval put an attempt just right of the goal. In the 50^th minute, freshman Daniel Pardo sent in a cross to Lird, who found the back of the net for his second goal of the game.

The Vikings struggled to find many solid chances on Mustangs’ goalkeeper Kevin Mulder, who finished with one save. A solid defensive line backed up Mineola for the full 80 minutes, including Daniel Muller, Richie Forte and Denis Lazo-Cruz.

“My defense has size, skill and patience, and we are able to move the ball in the back very easily,” said Mineola head coach Paul Pereira. “We are able to make the other team run and make up a lot of space. I think we played exceptionally well, disciplined soccer, but we need to work on finishing.”

Seaford will play against Glen Cove (0-1-2, 0-1-2) at home this Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Mineola will host Island Trees (3-0-1, 2-0-0) on Thursday as well at 7:00 p.m.