Wantagh girls soccer claims its first Nassau Class A championship on Kayla Mannix's goal

Kayla Mannix is an integral part of history for the Wantagh girls soccer program.

Mannix, a sophomore, scored the winning goal as third-seeded Wantagh defeated top-seeded North Shore, 1-0, to win the girls soccer Nassau Class A championship at Farmingdale State on Thursday night.

It’s the first county title in program history for Wantagh.

Wantagh (12-4-1) advances to play Shoreham-Wading River (12-2-2) in the Long Island Class A championship/Southeast Regional Final at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Farmingdale State. North Shore finished at 11-6-2.

“They have a fight in them,” coach James Polo said. “This group has been known to rise to the occasion and they believe in each other and that belief gets the job done.”

Mannix took a pass from Shannon Udell, beat a defender near the 18-yard box and took another dribble toward the net before firing the winning goal toward the top of the net with 15:48 left in the second half.

“I knew [the defender] was going left, so I just cut in right and I shot as hard as I could,” Mannix said. “It felt good, it felt amazing. It was just amazing.”

Polo had a feeling a special moment was nearing for Mannix.

“She’s just an amazing athlete,” Polo said. “She’s strong, she’s fast, she has a toughness and she’s not afraid of the spotlight. She wants it and you can see today she wanted it. She was having good practices, shooting up until here and I saw it was coming and I just said to her, ‘Keep on shooting, it’s coming.’ And today it happened.”

The adage of it being difficult to defeat a team three times played out on Thursday as North Shore had a pair of one-goal victories in conference play over Wantagh this season.

“We knew they got us twice and we knew we could get them the third time,” Mannix said. "We came out confident and ready for them. We wanted to make history for Wantagh.”

The Wantagh players thought last year may have been their chance to make program history, entering the Nassau Class A playoffs as the top seed. But when Wantagh lost to Seaford in the semifinals, it added that additional motivation throughout the offseason and this fall.

“They came driven and ready to do something this year,” Polo said. “I’m just proud of them for how they’ve worked and responded and how they play for each other.”