Baymen Boys Soccer Eliminated From Postseason Contention After Frustrating Loss

There are 80 minutes in a varsity high school soccer game and sometimes just a few of those minutes can control the outcome of the game. In the case of the Hampton Bays boys soccer team, it decided its postseason fate.

The Baymen controlled what their head coach Scott Garofola said was most likely 72 minutes of Thursday’s home game, but those eight minutes or so that they didn’t led to a pair of goals for Mount Sinai, which went on to win the game, 2-1, and dashing any hopes Hampton Bays had of returning to the postseason.

It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Baymen (1-4-1 League IV, 2-5-1 overall), who started the season with a 2-1-1 start, including a season-opening, non-league victory over cross-town rival Southampton. The loss also ends what had been a steady run of reaching the playoffs the past few seasons, including a county final appearance in 2018.

Section XI, the governing body of Suffolk County high school athletics, condensed the fall season into basically a month and a half due to the coronavirus pandemic. Because of the shortened season, the county had to use less leagues with more teams in each, creating, in most cases, extremely competitively league play. It also didn’t allow for teams to see each other twice, which when finishing the regular season with a .500 record or better qualifies a team for the playoffs, can help in that regard.

“There’s really no day off this year. You’ve got to come and play every day,” Garofola said. “There’s no day where you can bring your ‘B’ game and you’re going to win. We see that, even in times where you are dominating play. There are still a lot of dangerous guys out there — dangerous players, great strikers — that can really hit the ball and all you have to do is give them a couple of opportunities.

“Unfortunately, even with our play being high quality today, we made some mistakes and gave up those opportunities.”

George Franks scored both goals for the Mustangs. Just three minutes into the game, he found himself at the top of the box with the ball, turned and buried an unsavable shot top shelf past a diving Juan Cardona to make it a quick 1-0 game.

About 10 minutes later, Franks caught the Baymen defense napping a bit, getting behind both the defense and goalie to score on an empty net and make it 2-0.

From that point on though, Hampton Bays really controlled the tempo and possession of the game. With just under five minutes remaining in the first half, Hampton Bays senior Cris Vasquez sent a ball deep into the box that freshman Emmanuel Lopez — who was just substituted into the game — got his head on and was able to direct the ball passed Mt. Sinai goalie Tom Zariff to make it a 2-1 at halftime.

Although they controlled the game the rest of the way, the Baymen couldn’t capitalize on anything, and it was clear frustration was mounting. Justin Jimenez, a junior, made a nice move into the box with just minutes remaining in the game and booted a shot that appeared to go off a Babylon defender’s hand. The official didn’t see it, though, and therefore a potential game-tying penalty kick was not awarded.

“Honestly, it was a hard one to assess because it’s very frustrating and we really did a good job in our possession, in our style of play, in really playing the game,” Garofola said of the loss. “But the final third, the final ball and the final run wasn’t really there today, which I think was a big piece, and then also just making sure we were turned on at all moments to make sure we didn't give up a bad opportunity, and we did, and they capitalized on two of those.

“We took a lot of things from the training pitch yesterday, in terms of our movement as a unit, the possession during the game,” he added. “We absolutely dominated possession. I mean, we probably had the ball on our feet for a good 70 percent of the game. Our play was good in that regard, we dominated play, without a doubt. But, those down moments, you still have to stay on, you still have to stay focused, and a couple times we just didn't put together a full 80 minutes. We put together a good 72 minutes. That 72 minutes doesn't get you there and that was kind of the problem today.”