SWR soccer team has visions of a state title

After a 13-5 season last year and a 9-1 record within League VIII, the Shoreham-Wading River boys soccer team, already a perennial powerhouse, decided to enroll in the Town of Brookhaven Summer League for the first time to get a head start on building what they think could very well be a contender for a state title come autumn.

With most of the unit returning from last year — a year older and a year wiser — the group has aspirations to reach the pinnacle. 

“We’re going to states,” SWR summer league coach John Steine said. “These kids have played with each other forever and always said when they got to the high school level that they would win a state title. This was going to be their year. With the level of skill they have as a group, they know they have a shot.”

The Wildcats came into Monday night with a 4-0 record in the TOB Boys Small School Varsity league, already defeating the likes of Mt. Sinai, Sayville, Rocky Point and Mattituck, but their true test would be against their yearly rival, John Glenn High School, which also happened to be undefeated. 

“It’s always been Shoreham-Wading River and John Glenn fighting to determine who the best team in our division is,” Steine said. “Some years they get us and other years we get them. It’s always a great game and highly competitive.”

Though both teams were undefeated, the Wildcats were only winning their summer league games by one or two goals. John Glenn’s scores, however, were much more lopsided. Coming into the Monday night matchup against the two teams, the Knights scored 23 goals in four contests while only allowing one goal during the stretch. On paper, it looked like John Glenn was the better team. SWR was also missing top goal scorers from last year in Zach Makarewicz (15 goals) and Tyler Nowaski (10 goals) who were out with injury or other obligations, but that didn’t phase them.

Under the lights at Medford Athletic Complex, with an impending storm in the forecast, both teams spent the entire first half feeling out one another, pushing the ball in both directions with no clear chances to score. Andrew Steine was a menace in the midfield, controlling possession and coming up with big plays to stop any momentum John Glenn had going forward. If the ball happened to get to the defense, Aiden De Collibus and Matthew Thomsen quickly stepped in and dealt with any John Glenn forward making a push.

“It was a full team effort,” Steine said. “The defense, the midfield, the forwards — it was a full team effort.”

As a light rain started to sprinkle down, Thomsen broke the deadlock midway through the second half, smashing it past the goalkeeper to make it 1-0. It was the Wildcats that delivered the lightning before the game ended a few minutes early because of a strike seen in the distance. Though John Glenn fought to the finish, they never got a good opportunity to score the rest of the game as the Wildcats vaulted to the top of the league with a 5-0 record.

“This is absolutely momentum you can take into the school season,” Steine said. “Every win is important and that’s how our mentality has been all summer long so far. These kids aren’t going to be able to play soccer forever, so we want to enjoy this experience. It’s going to be a super fun year for these guys.”