Floral Park boys soccer takes home state Class A championship
Floral Park's Charlie McCarren celebrates his goal during the NYSPHSAA Class A boys soccer final on Sunday in Middletown, N.Y. Credit: Neil Miller
MIDDLETOWN — The Floral Park boys soccer team heard the whispers.
They likely were there at the start of the season because a lot of talent on a Nassau County semifinalist had been lost to graduation. However, even as the Knights seemed to gain momentum at the close of the season, they still could hear the doubters.
No one is whispering anymore.
Floral Park outclassed Section II champion Schalmont on Sunday afternoon and posted a relatively easy 2-0 victory in the state public school Class A championship game at Faller Field. The Knights were quicker and more technically skilled in every part of the field and played suffocating defense.
Floral Park (15-3-1) is a state champion for the first time in program history. Schalmont finished 21-2.
Maybe no one else believed until the end, but the Knights did from the beginning.
“We were doubted. People didn’t even think we could go as far as we did last year,” senior Ned Devine said. “But we’ve been working for something since March and believed.Once we won the Nassau championship, there was no stopping us because we had nothing to lose. At that point, you’re playing for each other, and nothing would be better than winning with your friends.”
Asked how winning the title compared with what the Knights expected, junior Charlie McCarren replied, “It completely blows it out of the water — this is so amazing.”
“This came out of the power of believing in each other,” senior Michael Donovan said.
Floral Park got on the board in the 17th minute after senior Sam Ammirati lined up for a corner kick on the right side. Senior Michael Chery found a spot with no one between him and the goal mouth and went high for the header to score.
“We run that play, and when I saw it go over the goalie, it was wide open for me,” Chery said.
Midway through the second half, McCarren subbed in and immediately found himself with an opportunity. He had the ball on the left wing and dumped it off to senior Conor McCarthy, who passed to senior Aidan Conlon, who fed McCarren for the insurance goal.
“I felt like calling for it and Aidan flicked it over the top to me,” McCarren said. “I put it right in the bottom of the net.”
To give some perspective on how dominating a performance it was, Floral Park had a pair of goals taken off the board for narrow offside calls — and the Sabres managed only two shots on goal. Their first shot was a 63-yard free kick with 21:15 to play that bounced and senior goalie Oscar Dalton went high to grab. Their second came from the wing with 6:30 left and Dalton corralled it easily.
“The biggest thing for this team was the work ethic and the belief,” Knights coach Ahkeel Rodney said. “We were doubted from the very beginning. But everyone could see – from the players to the parents to the community – how hard these guys were working to get better. And no matter what anyone else thought, we knew this was a group of players that could rely on each other and fight for each other.”
With their title in the books, the Knights sought to cap the celebration by dumping the Gatorade cooler on Rodney, but he was too quick to get doused.
It was an apropos ending. No one could catch Floral Park this season.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.