With the football team away at Comsewogue, East Hampton High’s boys soccer team went up against league-leading East Islip here Saturday afternoon, and, in a game that probably merited four referees rather than two, triumphed 1-0 thanks to a goal early on by John Bustamente.
To describe the showdown as “physical” is perhaps to understate the case. Every 50-50 ball was an adventure, bodies were flying, several downed East Hampton players, namely Eduardo Calle, Michael Chimbo, and Gary Gutama, required attention at various times, and East Hampton’s chief defender, Kevin Hilario, was ejected in the 56th minute, having drawn a second yellow card, “for winning the ball,” he was to say later.
That means he will not be able to play today at East Islip, though Don McGovern, East Hampton’s coach, said after Saturday’s victory that he was reasonably sure he could shore up the defense, perhaps by playing Chris Guallpa at center back.
It was the first league loss for the visitors, a game that was especially sweet for the Bonackers, who had on Oct. 3 lost 1-0 to Comsewogue, a middling team in league play that nevertheless was able to cash in on a corner kick. East Hampton, said McGovern, had many chances that day, with shots bouncing off the crossbar and the posts. A penalty kick East Hampton took near the end of the game that could have tied the score caromed off the crossbar.
As of Monday, East Islip remained in first place in League VI, with a 7-1-2 record, trailed closely by East Hampton, at 7-2-1.
Brian Tacuri, presented with a free kick from the 45-yard line 11 minutes into the action, sent a shot just wide to the right of East Islip’s goal. A corner kick ensued. Guallpa took it, sending the ball across the goal mouth, where Bustamente emerged out of the crowd to kick it home.
East Islip came roaring back, but Nico Guerrero, who was playing in the absence of East Hampton’s first-string keeper, Adrian Arango, was fully up to the task.
At the halftime break, McGovern told his charges they’d played a good half, and urged them to keep doing what they’d been doing, and, moreover, to shoot more from the edge of the box.
The visitors again went on the attack when the second half began. Eduardo Calle, one of East Hampton’s defenders, went down in the 45th minute after having contended for a head ball. He walked off to applause, and returned to the fray five minutes later. Kevin Lucero, who had come in for Calle, proved himself to be a staunch defender, making two successful slide tackles. In the 54th minute, an East Islip forward pounded a shot that bounced back off the football field goal span above the soccer cage’s crossbar.
When Hilario was thrown out, McGovern demanded an explanation, but the ruling stood.
Guerrero came up big soon after, making a diving save to his left, pushing away a knee-high shot headed for the right corner of the nets in the 68th minute. That save and one he made on a point-blank corner kick header with three and a half minutes left were his best of the game.
On two occasions in the final 17 minutes, “walls” of East Hampton defenders deflected East Islip free kicks, from the 20-yard line and from the 15.
When the final buzzer sounded, players collapsed all over the field, some in delight, some in despair. Guerrero was told as he walked out of the goal that he should be hoisted aloft by his teammates, who, once they’d gathered around in a circle, began a chant with Peruvian roots, “Vamos, vamos, East Hampton, que esta noche tenemos que ganar,” i.e., Let’s go, let’s go, tonight we gotta win.
