In initial outings East Hampton High School’s boys soccer team did well, as did its field hockey team, which shut out Pierson (Sag Harbor) 6-0 here Friday. The soccer team had as of Tuesday yet to be scored on, in two scrimmages, a nonleaguer, and in its league-opener here with Hauppauge Saturday.
The football team, as expected, lost at Half Hollow Hills West in its first outing, though Joe McKee’s charges scored three times in the 42-20 loss. Likewise, the junior varsity was said to have been competitive in a loss to the Colts’ jayvee here Saturday morning.
During the halftime break in Saturday’s soccer game, with neither team having scored, Don McGovern, East Hampton’s coach, urged his boys, who play possession soccer, not to spend too much time setting up when they were in scoring range, and, lo, they listened. In the 53rd minute, Chris Guallpa brought everyone to their feet when his high cross from the right corner curled into the Eagles’ goal.
Five minutes later, Michael Chimbo followed suit, finding the back of Hauppauge’s net from about 20 yards out, and, in the final seconds of the game, Ariel Garcia, who had broken away, capped the big 3-0 win.
Earlier in the week, on Aug. 30, East Hampton likewise shut out Center Moriches, a nonleague opponent, 3-0, as Filiph Garcia Ayala scored twice and Chimbo once.
Garcia Ayala broke the ice nine minutes into the game, by way of a penalty kick awarded after he was taken down in the box. Chimbo tacked on another on a breakaway in the second half, and Garcia Ayala, with five minutes to go, drew oohs and aahs as he scored from about 12 yards out after trying with his right foot and then beating his defender and the goalie with his left.
“Beating Eastport-South Manor would be gigantic,” McGovern told his players after Saturday’s win. “They were the only blemish on our league schedule last year.”
Indeed, the Sharks were said by McGovern to have “outworked” his players in a 2-to-1 loss here last October, one that broke a nine-game East Hampton winning streak. Having stumbled that one time, the Bonackers went on to win the League IV championship.
Comsewogue is to play here Friday at 4:30. The team is playing in the “Tournament of Champions” at Jericho High School Saturday. Its first game is to be with New Rochelle.
Friday’s walk-over field hockey game with Pierson was apparently foreordained, given the absence of Pierson’s goalie. East Hampton, which has a number of strong players, including Emma McGrory, Melina Sarlo, Ava Tintle, and a regionally-recognized sophomore goalie in Caeleigh Schuster, was to have played at Smithtown West yesterday, and is to play at Southampton Friday.
The football team, ranked last among Division III’s 13 squads, is to play 12th-ranked Rocky Point here Saturday, at 2.
