Injuries Have Forced Southampton Girls Soccer Into Youth Movement Earlier Than Expected

Entering this season, Southampton girls soccer head coach Sean Zay felt his team could push for a playoff spot, despite graduating 12 players after last season, most of whom were starters. But it was who he had coming back that made Zay confident his team could keep its streak of four straight playoff seasons going.

But in just the second game of the season, the Mariners lost one of its best players in senior co-captain Hailey Cameron to an injury, and more recently lost one of its most potent offensive weapons in sophomore Sophia Oliveri, also to an injury.

“That’s made us adjust on the fly, and we’re a lot younger than we would have been had she been healthy. So [senior co-captain] Juliette Archer has had to drop back a lot and play a defensive role instead of playing forward and that’s made us a little disjointed in the middle of the field.”

After losing, 3-0, at Center Moriches on Saturday, Southampton fell to 2-8-1 in League IV, 4-9-1 overall. With just two games remaining in the regular season, making the postseason seems like a mirage, though Zay did mention how Section XI still has four spots open in the brackets on its website, and since all four of Suffolk County’s Class B teams play in mixed classification leagues, the governing body could allow all four teams (Babylon, Center Moriches, Mattituck/Southold/Greenport) to play it out, something Zay would love to see.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen, but you never know,” he said after Saturday’s loss. “I would love to get a chance to be that fourth team and at least get a chance to play a team like Center here in the playoffs and get that experience, because some of the sophomores have gotten it but not all of them. It’s just about getting that experience. This year is an experience year for those younger players and it’s just tough for my seniors.”

Zay reiterated how seniors like Archer and Emily Zukosky have had to play out of position due to the injuries. Both have had to play more defensive roles than the offensive roles they played in the past. But they’ve all — he added, namely, goalie Cece Ginsburg and defender Amy Jimenez — done a great job in their new roles.

“Emily Zukosky has played on defense and she’s played absolutely amazing, dealing with an [injury] for a couple games. She’s a real warrior. Juliette Archer in the midfield, phenomenal. CeCe in goal has improved leaps and bounds. We’re playing around with lineups and positions. Like Amy played midfield today, she’s never played that, but we’re just looking to see what works and see where we’re going to progress.

“It’s been a tough season, maybe not the season we wanted but a season that will benefit the younger girls going forward,” Zay added.

The majority of the lineup has been sophomores, many of whom are getting their first varsity experience this season. That’s led to the ups and downs of the season, the Mariners tied a strong team in Miller Place, 2-2, on October 3,a step in the right direction, Zay said.

“We’re asking a lot of girls that you would figure do stuff next year to do this stuff this year, but it’s kind of nice because they are getting great experience,” he said. “It’s one of those things where we want to learn something every single game, we want to keep getting better, and we have. We have those little underclassmen moments where you kind of lose it for a second and the game is so fast so you just have to be on it. They’re learning that and it’s like their growth this year has been phenomenal so it’s like where I thought we’d be here next year, because of the injuries, we’re probably a little bit further than where we were going to be next year when we enter next season, which is a good thing for us.”

Southampton will play its home finale this Monday, October 17, against East Hampton at 6 p.m. and will play its season finale at Rocky Point two days later on October 19, also at 6 p.m.