Norihanna Korzenko leads Ward Melville girls soccer to third straight Long Island championship

Norihanna Korzenko isn’t a goal-scorer. She is a net protector. But on Sunday night, she was a championship deliverer.

The Ward Melville defender couldn’t have picked a better time for her first varsity goal. The freshman ran through a bouncing ball near the net off a corner kick from Carolyn Rowe and scored the game’s lone goal as Ward Melville defeated Oceanside, 1-0, in the Long Island Class AAA girls soccer championship/Southeast Regional final at Farmingdale State. It is Ward Melville’s third straight Long Island crown.

Korzenko has pictured scoring her first goal all season long, imagining it on nearly every corner kick. But she never thought it would be the winner in the Long Island championship game.

“This is really special because I’ve been working toward this all season,” she said of her goal with 21:03 left in the first half. “Every time I go in, I tell myself I’m going to get it this time, and then I saw the ball coming across and I told myself to go for it and I hit it in. It was really exciting.”

Ward Melville (18-0-1) will continue its pursuit of a third straight state championship when it plays Fairport in the state Class AAA semifinals at noon on Saturday at Tompkins Cortland Community College.

“We’ve been working so hard all season and there’s all the pressure from the outside of ‘is it going to be a three-peat?’ ” senior defender Sarah Jablonsky said. “We’re just really trying to show we have the passion and dedication to do it.”

Kate Ronzoni made six saves for the Patriots, who extended their streak without a loss to 61 consecutive games, going 54-0-7 since the start of the 2022 season.

Ward Melville coach John Diehl credited Oceanside’s play on Sunday for not allowing the Patriots to create many chances. Oceanside finished at 11-6-2 after winning its first county title since 1979.

“Their defensive play was outstanding,” Diehl said. “They were all over us. If we gained any possession in their half or final third, they were right on us right away. They really came at us hard and we couldn’t get our game going. It was a real battle.”

Ward Melville has felt the pressure of back-to-back undefeated seasons. The players can’t ignore it, but they are trying to focus on one another rather than outside opinions.

“We try to stay really humble and we try to keep it within our circle,” Jablonsky said. “What we can control, we try to hit that and leave everything else up to our hard work.”

Diehl understands that his senior-laden team wants to continue the success of previous seasons. He wants each team to create its own legacy, but back-to-back undefeated state championships can’t be forgotten about.

“I think they really wanted it, I keep hearing that,” Diehl said. “I think the seniors on the team know they’ve been there. They’ve all led the team and they want it. They want to [go to Cortland] and they want to do what the [previous teams] have done so they can be a part of the legacy their former teammates have left.”