Shoreham-Wading River girls soccer fires away until Mia Mangano breaks through for Long Island Class A crown

Ava Gengler had just yelled at Mia Mangano.

But it wasn’t the sort of teammate-on-teammate interaction that would make anyone think there was a problem. Gengler had a message she wanted to make sure Mangano heard clearly: that Mangano was going to score.

A few minutes later, the prediction became fact. After Gengler said she “yelled” at Mangano to remain aggressive, the junior broke through and scored from just inside the 18-yard box off a through ball from Gengler for the game’s first goal as Shoreham-Wading River defeated Wantagh, 2-0, in the Long Island Class A girls soccer championship/Southeast Regional final at Farmingdale State on Sunday afternoon.

Mangano and her fellow Wildcats were creating chances before finally breaking through with 19:34 left in the second half. Shealyn Varbero scored the final goal off an assist from Olivia Pesso with 9:20 left in the contest.

“I was dying,” Mangano said. “We just kept shooting, kept shooting, hoping that one would go through, and we knew if we kept shooting, something would happen. Ava said to me before the goal, ‘Mia, you’re going to get one. You got this,’ and I took that. She gave me a great through ball and it went in and I couldn’t be more happy.”

Shoreham-Wading River (13-2-2) will play Mendon in the state Class A semifinals at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at Cortland High School. Wantagh finished 12-5-1 after winning the first county title in program history.

The Wildcats captured their second straight Long Island championship. They reached the state final before losing to Rye, 2-0, last year. Gengler missed all of last season with a torn ACL, making her senior-season run to the state semifinals even more meaningful.

“To be more involved and to actually be able to play at states is a really amazing opportunity for me and I’m so grateful that we made it this year,” Gengler said.

“I was cheering on the sideline every game, but it was so hard. I was three months out of surgery asking my coaches to put me in. It was tough.”

Coach Adrian Gilmore said she thought her team played the most complete game of the season on Sunday. She also wasn’t surprised that Mangano was the one to open the scoring.

“She’s been clutch for us all year, so when we needed the big goals in the big games, she’s either had the goal or the assist,” Gilmore said.  “We knew she’d get it tonight.”

Shoreham-Wading River has been building toward a return to Cortland all year and hopes to leave the region with one more victory than last year.

“They got a taste of what it’s like to be up there,” Gilmore said.

“It’s such a special environment, and every time we go, I’m so honored to represent the county and Long Island. But I think they got a taste of what it’s like to really be on that platform, so who wouldn’t want to be back?”