Cucinella-Marcus connection wins it for Wheatley
Wheatley’s Christian Cucinella had no idea whom he was passing the ball to on a dangerous free kick opportunity on Monday.
But teammate Alec Marcus sure did.
“I knew he was hitting it to me,” Marcus said. “When he sent it in, I thought, ‘This is my chance to score, and I better not mess it up.’ ”
He didn’t. Marcus headed the cross from Cucinella and scored in the 56th minute as host Wheatley defeated two-time defending Nassau Class B champ Carle Place, 1-0, in a physical, well-played Nassau ABC-III contest.
“We did a drill in practice a few days ago, where we were doing the exact same thing,” said Cucinella, a senior centerback, who has four assists this season. “I was like, ‘Let me put it in the area.’ And Alec was there.”
Credit the Wheatley coaching staff for practicing the exact drill it used to score the winning goal. Interesting, the pass wasn’t intended for Marcus.
“It was supposed to go to (junior forward) Nick Tagios, but he was marked,” said Wheatley coach Steve Cadet. (Tagios is one of Nassau’s top scorers with 12 goals). Alec was able to get in front of him and finish.”
Finishing has been a problem all season for Carle Place (2-6), according to its coach Allen Foraker.
“We’re inexperienced, which is unlike us,” Foraker said. “We have six conferences losses, but five are by one goal.”
Still, the two programs could very well meet again in the Nassau B championship game. There are only three Class B teams in Nassau, including Oyster Bay, Wheatley (5-1-2) and Carle Place. Monday’s competitors have won the last seven Nassau B titles combined, including two for Wheatley (2011 and 2014) and the other five for Carle Place, including the last two county finals against Wheatley.
“Losing in the county finals two years in a row,” Cucinella said, “I really, really wanted to beat them.”
Marcus had a pretty good memory, realizing that Wheatley had not beaten Carle Place since his freshman season, a 1-0 win back on Sept. 12, 2014.
“It’s been four years,” Marcus said. “So it’s a good feeling to win.”
