Kings Park boys soccer defeats Amityville for Suffolk Class A championship

Lawrence Glenn had a lot rushing through his mind.

He had time, he had space and he had the ball on his right foot.

And, with less than 10 minutes to play, the Kings Park senior launched a shot into the top right corner of the net and had a county championship-winning goal.

“It ended up being perfect,” Glenn said of his winning shot. “We played great all the way through, and I think we deserved it. I couldn’t have asked to win it with a better group of guys.”

Glenn’s goal with 9:40 remaining led No. 3 Kings Park to a 1-0 win over two-time defending county champion No. 4 Amityville in the Suffolk Class A boys soccer championship at Diamond in the Pines on Wednesday.

Kings Park coach Tom Nally said Wednesday’s win marked Kings Park’s first Suffolk boys soccer title since 1957. Amityville (12-5-1) won the Class A state championship last year and reached the state final the year before.

“We have a lot of respect for [Amityville]. We knew they were going to come and give it everything they had today,” Nally said. “And if we didn’t play as hard as we could, we weren’t going to be able to come out victorious.”

Kings Park netted the lone goal off a corner kick played in from the left side by Vincent D’Antona. D’Antona said he saw Glenn with room and told him to shoot when he accepted the pass.

Kings Park (13-3-1) earned eight corner kicks to Amityville’s three and forced Amityville goalkeeper Israel Torres into making seven saves.

“In the first half, we weren’t possessing on the ground, and that’s why we didn’t score,” D’Antona said. “Once we started possessing slowly and [got] up the field together, we ended up scoring.”

That progression led to Glenn’s goal, which slipped past Torres’ outstretched arms, off the far right post and in.

Kings Park will play the Nassau champion, Lawrence or Mineola, in the Long Island Class A boys soccer championship at Farmingdale State College at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

"They’re a great team," Glenn said of Amityville. "Now, we have a chance to go do what they did last year."