Bonac Soccer, Ross Tennis Stumble, but Volleyers Soar
Two teams that had been sailing along, the East Hampton High School boys soccer team and the Ross School girls tennis team, stumbled Monday.
The Bonac boys lost 1-0 at Amityville as the result of a first-half penalty kick.
The Ross girls, who had defeated William Floyd 5-2 at home Saturday, lost by the same score at Floyd Monday. Vinicius Carmo, Ross’s coach, was a bit mystified, though as of Tuesday morning he was confident his team, with a little help from East Hampton, which has yet to play its second match with Floyd, would win out in the end.
Rich King, who coaches East Hampton’s boys soccer team, was also sanguine as to his team’s chances to win another league championship.
“It would have been nice to have won yesterday,” he said. “If we had, we would have had a stranglehold on first place, but there’s a lot of soccer left. If we take care of business this week [games were scheduled for yesterday and tomorrow] we’ll be in fine shape.”
Meanwhile, East Hampton’s girls volleyball team, coached by Kathy McGeehan, has had some good results lately. The Bonackers swept Westhampton Beach in three here Friday. “We really served well,” said McGeehan, who added that “we are really coming together.”
Maria Montoya-Rueda led the way with three aces in 10 attempts and also had four kills; Carley Seekamp and Melanie Mackin each had six kills; Katie Brierley had 20 service receptions and 18 digs, and Raya O’Neal, whom Newsday recently said was “a player to watch” in Suffolk, and Lydia Budd each had 10 assists.
The team “played the best we have all season” in winning a tournament at Harborfields Saturday, McGeehan reported. The Bonackers came out of pool play seeded fourth, but defeated fifth-seeded Harborfields in the quarterfinals, topped second-seeded Kellenberg in the semifinals, and defeated top-seeded St. Anthony’s 25-20, 25-19 in the final.
Getting back to Monday’s soccer game, the penalty call in the box had been a legitimate one, said King, who added that “we didn’t play well in the first half. We did in the second, but we didn’t finish our chances. We turned it on too late.”
In recent home games, with Miller Place and Elwood-John Glenn, so-so first halves have been followed by very strong second ones. Friday’s game here with Glenn was scoreless going into the break, but thereafter it was all East Hampton, which, thanks to goals by Donte Donegal, wound up winning 2-0. And also thanks to four spectacular saves by Nick Tulp, Bonac’s goalie.
The so-so first half could be traced, said King, to the fact that “we played their game, which was to keep the ball up in the air. In the second half, we played our game, stringing short passes together. It was like a pinball game in the first half.”
As for the Ross-Floyd tennis matches, Carmo said he’d never seen anything like it. For example, “Rory Gallaher, who won 6-3, 6-1 Saturday, lost to the same girl 6-2, 6-0 on Monday. It was windy there — it always is — and we couldn’t control the ball, but still. . . . Our first doubles team, which won here 6-4, 6-3, lost 6-1, 6-2 to the same girls there.”
Thus, as of Tuesday, Ross and William Floyd were tied for first place in league play, each with 6-1 records.
In soccer, Amityville led League VI at 4-0-1, with East Hampton second at 4-1-0. Elwood-John Glenn led the girls volleyball teams in League VI with a 5-0-0 record. East Hampton was in second at 4-1-0.