East Hampton Boys Soccer Falls to Huntington in PKs

Just when it looked like they were down, the East Hampton boys soccer team dug deep and found a way to keep their season going with two late tallies. Ultimately, though, it was Huntington that proved to be the stronger team.

After the two teams were still tied, 2-2, after a pair of 15-minute overtime periods in the Suffolk County Class AA semifinal in East Hampton, they went to penalty kicks to decide who would advance to Thursday’s county championship. Things started off well for Bonac in PKs, when East Hampton senior co-captain Gary Gutama struck first, and Huntington senior Carlos Gutierrez hit the left post.

But from that point on it was all Blue Devils in the shootout. Jon Morales, Bryan Lizama and Edwin Marroquin each made their shots for Huntington, while Kevin Hilario had his shot just nick the cross bar and sail high, then Jonathan Armijos and Eduardo Calle each had their shots saved by Huntington goalie Dylan Hayden.

After Hayden saved Calle’s shot, Huntington erupted into celebration after surviving and moving on to face top-seeded Smithtown West for the county championship after the Bulls defeated Centereach, 2-1, in the other county semifinal. As for the Bonackers, there was a lot of consoling after having played one of their toughest games of the season.

“It’s sad to lose on penalties, or not advance on penalties, however you want to put it,” East Hampton head coach Don McGovern said, after the game. “It’s still a loss, it’s playoffs, only one team can go on, so one team is going to be upset. And everyone’s season is going to end unless you’re going to end it by winning a state championship. And these guys put their hearts and souls into it.”

Huntington opened the scoring with just 10 seconds remaining in the first half after it was awarded a corner kick with 30 seconds remaining. Lizama sent the ball into the box that Jerson Contreras played with his chest then kicked it into the net.

With about 26 minutes remaining in regulation, Huntington struck again when it was awarded a free kick from about 30 yards out. Lizama again sent in a dangerous ball that Alan Wilberger found and put just over the reach of East Hampton senior goalie Nicholas Guerrero to make it a two-goal game.

That seemed to maybe have been the dagger the Blue Devils needed, but as the Bonackers have shown all season long, they wouldn’t go down without a fight. With just over eight minutes remaining in the game, Armijos sent a nice lead-in pass into the box for John Bustamante, who finished easily to pull East Hampton within one.

Bustamante’s goal energized the Bonac home crowed, and with just 1:30 remaining in the regulation, a ball was sent into the goal box that bounced around a few times before Gutama found Ariel Reyes, who scored to tie the game as pandemonium ensued while the Bonackers celebrated deep in the corner near their bench.

Both teams had their chance to end it in both overtimes. Guerrero came up with some nice saves for Bonac, especially in the final two minutes of the second overtime, just getting a piece of a ball to push it high.

Again, with Gutama giving East Hampton the early lead in penalty kicks, things were looking good for the Bonackers, but things just didn’t go their way in the shootout.

“They were a strong team,” McGovern said of Huntington. “I thought we didn’t play well in the midfield for, say, the first 20, 25 minutes of the second half. I thought they were winning the midfield … but they were also not allowing us to play in the midfield. They were actually just playing it in the air, running it through. [Lizama] was strong. He could go anywhere and showed leadership on the field. I think he was the difference maker there for them.

“I thought we had some great play from a lot of guys,” he continued. “From John Bustamante to Ariel to Kevin Hilario. Nick Guerrero made some great saves. Their keeper made some great saves, too, on us. We had chances. I thought we had better chances in the first half, but we weren’t able to put it in the back of the net.”

The current senior group, which is 15 players, will have a lot to look back on and be proud of, including being league champions the past two seasons, including this season, their first in Class AA. But make no mistake, East Hampton plans on being in the hunt year in and year out now, and next season plans to be no different with many key players expected to return.

“We always say, first goal is we want to be in the playoffs, and then we go from there,” McGovern said. “Secure a playoff spot, that’s been the goal as long as I’ve been involved, that’s the first goal and these guys all know that. They don’t want to be the group that doesn’t do that. And then we do focus on, too, every match is so important, every league match is so important because that helps determine your playoff seeding.

“But like I just said to the boys, I’m sad because I’m not gong to be able to hang out with them every day after school now.”