Boys Soccer Suffer First Blemish in League II Play, Lose to Hills East 1-0

In a battle of the top two boys soccer teams in Suffolk County, the Lions, previously undefeated in League II action, suffered their first loss of the season to Half Hollow Hills East by a score of 1-0.

The Lions (10-1-1) controlled the game for much of the first half and had a great opportunity to score about halfway through the first. Star forward Sean Sepe carried the ball up the left side, deked two defenders with fancy footwork, beat the keeper and had a shot at a wide open net. He fired a shot that looked like it was on its way in, but East's Harrison Marx came out of nowhere with a slide that knocked the ball over the crossbar to safety.

The game was scoreless at halftime, but East (9-2-1)  took control of the game in the second half. Despite a few decent opportunities for the Lions, it was East that scored the lone goal of the game when Marx  got in close to Lions keeper Nick Policastro and got some air under the ball. It landed at the feet of Jake Freeman, who drew Policastro before getting it to Tyler Kirschner for the finish and the 1-0 lead.

"We missed our chances in the first half," head coach Ed Pieron said. "We should've had two or three in the first half and we got beat in the midfield. I said to them in the locker room that Hills East is a very organized and disciplined team, so one mistake they're going to take advantage of it and if they give you chances you have to take advantage because they might not give you another."

The Lions had a few more good, not great, opportunities in East's zone near the end of the game, but none of them resulted in a score as East's keeper Jordan Gross made 11 saves in the shutout. The loss was West Islip's first of the season, which forced Pieron and his team come to an important realization.

"We can lose at anytime," he said. "As well as we've played, some luck has come with it and we can lose at any point. A loss is never a good thing but it could be a good thing in this case. I think we might've needed a loss."

While the loss may have humbled the Lions a bit, they will have to regain focus when they try to clinch first place in League II Tuesday, Oct. 26 against Bay Shore (6-2-4)

"We have two games next week and I just want to see improvement," Pieron said. "We still sit on top of the league and we still just basically need a point somewhere along the line so we'll see what happens. We just need to get a little better."