Cristian Escobar fuels Brentwood boys soccer's rally for Suffolk Class AAA title
Brentwood's Cristian Escobar (11) dribbles the ball in the second half during the Suffolk Class AAA boys soccer final between Brentwood and Ward Melville on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023. Credit: Bob Sorensen
When Brentwood went to play at Ward Melville on Oct. 2, the Patriots built a two-goal lead by halftime before Brentwood pulled off a comeback, scoring three unanswered goals to grab the game away.
Now they were meeting Thursday night with a lot more on the line at Patchogue-Medford — the Suffolk Class AAA boys soccer championship.
Third-seeded Ward Melville again built a lead by halftime over top-seeded, undefeated Brentwood, this time a one-goal edge.
But Brentwood again scored three unanswered goals to grab the game away.
Senior midfielder Cristian Escobar scored the tiebreaker and set up the final goal in a 3-1 win that gave this program its first county crown since 2019.
“That was an amazing feeling,” Escobar said. “… At the beginning, we were losing 1-0. That was amazing that we scored that [first] goal because we knew we were going to be champions … We had the momentum.”
That momentum carried Brentwood (19-0) to the point where it’s bound for a Long Island championship game at Pat-Med at 4 p.m. Sunday against East Meadow, the 10-5-2 Nassau champ.
Brentwood advanced despite the fact that leading goal scorer Nico Loaiza was out because of a hamstring injury he suffered in the semifinals against Commack. Coach Ron Eden isn’t sure whether the senior forward can return.
“This team has a lot of character, and we’re not all about one player,” Eden said. “They wouldn’t be 19-0 if they didn’t have some quality to them. We’ve scored a lot of goals. That’s 86 goals this year. We set a school record. … This is just a really good team.”
After a handball call, Christopher Arriaza took a penalty kick for Brentwood and drilled it past David McElroy to tie it at 1-1 4:35 into the second half.
Then Arriaza fed Escobar, who drilled a high shot that McElroy got a hand on. But the ball deflected into the net for the lead in the 63rd minute.
Diego Argueta, who suffered a turf toe injury in the semis and didn’t start, appeared as a reserve and scored the final goal.
“We gave it our all,” Ward Melville coach Rocco Vetro said.
Wilman Castellon, who left with an injury in the second half, scored on a bicycle kick in the first half for the Patriots (13-3-2).
Vetro summed up their season this way: “One of the best seasons we ever had.”