Southampton Girls Soccer Is Building Toward a Bright Future

Most coaches don’t want to describe their team as being in a “rebuilding” year.

For the Southampton girls soccer program, “building” might be the more appropriate descriptor for what is happening this year — as in, the Mariners are building toward what head coach Sean Zay sees as a bright future on the pitch.

The Mariners moved to 3-7 in Division III, 3-8-1 overall, after a 6-0 loss at first place Kings Park on Monday, but Zay likes what he has seen from his young squad this year. Before the loss to Kings Park, Southampton dominated nearby rival East Hampton in a 5-1 home win on September 21, then suffered a 2-0 home loss to Center Moriches on September 27 with a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Babylon at home on September 29.

“The season so far has been a learning one,” Zay said earlier this week. “I have a bunch of freshmen that are getting important minutes, including Cameron Kiefer and Riley Cameron on defense, and Julia Vail, Reese Swiatocha and Marin Schwartz in midfield.”

Zay admitted that it has been a struggle at times to figure out where each player fits with so many newcomers on the team, but he said the defense has been strong, led by goalie Ella Liebnitzky, who is seventh in the county with 88 saves. Finding consistency on offense has been a challenge, but Zay said he saw improvement in that area starting with a 4-0 win at Hampton Bays on September 19, led by Harper Souhrada, Jillian Swiatocha and Jaylin Maloney. Maloney had four assists in the Hampton Bays win, giving her seven for the year, ranking her fourth in the county. Souhrada scored two goals in that win.

“We really clicked and continued that into East Hampton,” Zay said. “Against, Babylon and Center Moriches, they are just a year ahead of us, a bit older and a lot bigger. We lose no one to graduation after this year and return everyone, so we’ll be a very solid team next year.

“The girls are learning their roles and I absolutely love coaching this team,” Zay continued. “There are no individuals with big egos. They all want to do well and are happy when another player does well. It’s a very special team, and I think next year we’ll be really good.”

Southampton was scheduled to host Port Jefferson on October 3 in what would be its final home game of the season. The Mariners will visit Elwood/John Glenn on October 6 for a 5 p.m. game, will travel to Islip on October 12 for a 4:30 p.m. game, and will close out the season at Mattituck/Southold/Greenport on October 17 at 4:30 p.m.