Giorgios Karousis scores twice to lift Mepham boys soccer past East Meadow
Mepham's Giorgios Karousis celebrates after scoring his first goal of a Nassau Conference AA-1 boys soccer game against East Meadow on Wednesday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Giorgios Karousis deposited his second goal in a span of three minutes and 13 seconds to put Mepham ahead, and he showed everyone just how happy he was. He pulled off his maroon and black jersey, raced toward the bleachers and held up that No. 9 shirt proudly to the home crowd.
“It felt good to score the goal,” Karousis said. “We were earning it the whole game. And I felt like just getting that goal and taking my shirt off and celebrating, it was the right moment to do that.”
After another 6:22 had passed, the Pirates could all celebrate Wednesday’s 2-1 comeback victory.
This soccer team that won all of two games last year in a rebuilding season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016 had just matched that total after four games.
And Mepham did it against East Meadow, which is now in Nassau Class AA and has seven starters back from its 2023 county AAA championship team.
“Our No. 1 goal this year was to make the playoffs and get the program back where it belongs,” Pirates coach Zachary Gosse said after they moved to 2-1-1 overall and 1-1-1 in Conference AA-I. “So it’s impressive that we can get two wins early on in the season. It kind of sets the tone …”
East Meadow coach Bryan Horrmann, meanwhile, considers the Jets a contender for another county title. They’ve started slowly at 1-3 overall and 1-2 in AA-I.
“My seven guys have experience,” Horrmann said. “We’re trying to get the younger guys to get experience.
“Our motto last year: Game by game, half by half. So we played a good half in the first. We didn’t play so hot in the second half.”
After gathering a long free kick by Jonathan Murcia, Karousis beat goalkeeper Matthew Rivas. The junior center midfielder’s goal tied it at 1-1 with 9:35 left.
“He’s magic,” Gosse said.
And then Karousis gave Mepham the lead after breaking in on Rivas, who stood out with nine saves.
“I personally think that was offsides,” Horrmann said. “… But my guys have got to be better.”
His guys took a 1-0 edge 2:03 into the second half. Dylan Wauchope put a rebound past Adam Alvarez, who otherwise made eight stops.
“It just shows the character of this team,” Gosse said, “that they’re able to bounce back, concede a goal, still come back in the game.”
