Babylon Eliminates Southampton Boys Soccer in Suffolk County Semifinals

Seniors Riley Herrmann and Andy Panza grew up playing soccer together, and they, along with their Southampton head coach, Dave Riley, could all think of one word to describe how they feel not just about this season, but about their experience on the boys soccer team as a whole: proud.

“To see where they were then to where they are now, it’s been a cool journey,” Riley said. “I think there’s been some seeds planted that are going to last for a long time, and they were a huge part of that.”

Herrmann and Panza were both pulled up to the varsity team as freshmen during the 2019 season. Herrmann was called up midseason to play goalkeeper, and made a save in a 7-0 win over Mattituck, and Panza was asked to be a utility player during playoffs.

“We played club together since we were really young, and as I grew up and into a leadership role with the team, he had my back every game,” Herrmann said of Panza. “We have a good relationship. We feed off each other. We make each other better. And we carried that through.”

Together, the pair bid farewell to their time as Mariners following a 3-1 loss to No. 1-seeded Babylon in the Class B semifinals Wednesday. Panza played the first half, making three saves, and Herrmann the second, making two stops.

“We’ve been friends forever, so this means a lot,” Herrmann said.

Panza made his first save just 45 seconds into the contest, and Babylon, which has now won three straight titles with a 2-1 win over Center Moriches Saturday, was relentless in its attack. But that didn’t stop the senior from coming out of the box to grab the ball any chance he could, or wait for his defense to pass it back so he could reroute it. Eventually, though, Babylon found the back of the net at the 17:16 mark, and again at 12:55 off a rebound into the left corner to take a 2-0 lead into halftime.

“There were just some unlucky plays that didn’t go our way, so we should be proud to be here,” Panza said. “We had to bring the intensity. Our first touch needed to be on-point. We needed to look for the outsides coming across and switching the field. They were all things we thought we could beat them with, but we just fell a little short.”

While Herrmann took his position between the pipes to start the second, Panza switched to playing forward for the remainder of the contest. Herrmann made two straight saves between the 30- and 34-minute marks, but on a 1-v-1, Owen Morris notched his second of the game with a shot into the right corner from straightaway center to extend Babylon’s advantage. Fittingly enough, Panza scored the lone Mariners’ goal with 4:32 left to play.

“We’ve grown tremendously from our first loss of the season, which was also our first game,” Panza said. “At first, we were doubted — considering we lost basically our entire starting lineup — but we found new players who could ultimately fill in those roles that we lost and we battled back. We fought through adversity, so I’m proud. I feel lucky. I’m privileged to have been a part of this team.”

Herrmann said while he thinks his team got a little gassed, there’s always a silver lining.

“I think we gave it our all, but Babylon wore us out, and we came up short,” the senior said. “I think we also need to look on the bright side — look at how far we’ve come and how much effort we put in to get this far. We also had to bring heart, and I think we did.”

The goalkeeper said representing Southampton and being a Mariner has been an enormous obligation for everyone, himself included, but he wouldn’t have changed a thing.

“We all may not be as knowledgeable or skilled, but this is a commitment, and we’ve all put in a lot of time and effort, so it’s really rewarding to see us make the playoffs and come this far,” Herrmann said. “We spent so much time together. We practiced together, we ate together, we went out together — we basically became family. While it’s disappointing to see that end, this has been a life-changing experience.”