There Has Been Much Soccer Action Afoot Here Lately

There was plenty of soccer action this past week as: 

The fall indoor season wound up at the Sportime Arena in Amagansett Saturday night with victories by Liga Sayausi in the open men’s final, by La Tri in the over-38 men’s final, and by A.D.N. in the open women’s championship game.

Sag Harbor United, which has been kicked around for the past few years in the Wednesday evening men’s 7-on-7 league, notched its first win of the fall by defeating Tortorella Pools 3-2 at East Hampton’s Herrick Park on Nov. 8.

Hampton United, an over-30 team playing in the Suffolk Men’s Soccer League’s first division, lost its first game of the season Sunday, by a score of 2-1, to Massapequa, the defending champion, on a last-minute penalty kick — a loss that dropped it into second place, by 1 point, behind Charruas 1950, this Sunday’s opponent.

And the Pierson-Bridgehampton boys soccer team, after winning a first-ever county Class C title, lost 2-0 to Lansing Saturday in a state semifinal played at Middletown High School’s turf field. It was the first time that a Whaler boys soccer team had ever advanced to a state Final Four.

Quique Araya said of the over-30 men’s team loss at Massapequa that it had hinged on a controversial hand-ball call in the final minutes. “It happened just outside the penalty area, but the ref said it happened inside,” said the veteran goalie. 

“It was a hard-fought game all the way,” he added. “They scored first, but we tied it, on a beautiful 20-yard free kick by Miguel Munoz over a ‘wall’ of defenders. It was 1-1 at halftime, and it was back-and-forth in the second, with us having plenty of chances, until that call in the final minutes.”

At 5-1-1, Hampton United was listed in second place, behind 5-0-2 Charruas 1950, in the 10-team league’s standings as of Monday. Four games — one of them a Cup game — remain before the winter break in mid-December. Charruas and Hampton United are to play at the locals’ home field at Hampton Bays High School on Sunday at 2:30. However, Hampton United will be missing Araya and Jose Almansa, the center midfielder, who largely orchestrates the team’s attacks. 

Facing a Barcelona team that had some East Hampton High School players on it — Wilmer Guzman, Justin Carpio, and Gustavo Gutama among them — Liga Sayausi, anchored by such surefooted veterans as Xavi Piedramartel and Antonio Padilla, had little trouble in putting Barcelona, the summer champion, away, by a score of 6-1 in Sportime’s open men’s final.

Piedramartel scored three of the winners’ goals, two of them early in the first half, sandwiched around one by Guzman. Jimmy Baculima had two goals for Liga Sayausi. 

Juliana Garcia scored all of A.D.N.’s goals in a 3-1 win over Family in the open women’s final. La Tri bested the Cosmos 3-2 for the over-38 men’s title.

In the 7-on-7 league on Nov. 8, Sag Harbor United, as aforesaid, bested Tortorella Pools 3-2 for its first win of the season; Tuxpan defeated Maidstone Market 3-1, and Bateman Painting forfeited to Hampton F.C.-Bill Miller.

As for the Sag Harbor-Tortorella game, Leslie Czeladko, Tortorella’s manager and the league’s spokesman, attributed the loss to a controversial “unsportsmanlike behavior” call that nullified a presumptive game-tying goal by David Rodriguez with about eight minutes left to play.

“A defender, who had kicked the ball, which had come to him off the Sag Harbor goalie’s chest, could only get it to the 10-yard penalty line, where David Rodriguez was waiting. Before blasting the ball into the nets on the left side, David said, ‘Mine.’ The referee ruled that that was unsportsmanlike behavior, even though he was all alone, wasn’t deceiving anyone, and was an attacking player. . . .” 

Sag Harbor, which had tied the week before, had come to play, said Czeladko, who stepped in to play goalie in the absence of Alejandro Bolanos. 

Stiven Orrego and Eddie Lopez scored Tortorella’s goals — Orrego in the first half, Lopez in the second. 

Tuxpan’s 3-1 win over Maidstone was owing to goals by Juan Carlos Chavez, Manuel Gonzalez, and Jorge de Los Santos. Mario Olaya scored for the Market.

As of earlier this week, Tuxpan and Bill Miller led the league, each at 3-0-3, with 12 points, followed by Maidstone Market, at 2-2-2, with 8 points, Bateman Painting, at 2-3-1, with 7 points, Tortorella Pools, at 1-3-2, with 5 points, and Sag Harbor United, at 1-4-1, with 4 points. The top four teams will make the playoffs.