Goals by Shae Brennan, Briana Neary clinch title for Massapequa in girls soccer
Massapequa's Shae Brennan, left, celebrates her goal with Nicole Tonello during a a Nassau Conference I girls soccer game agsinst host MacArthur on Monday. Credit: Neil Miller
Shae Brennan didn’t see much movement from her teammates. The Massapequa defender isn’t often the first one to line up for free kicks in scoring opportunities, but for some reason that even she's not sure about, it felt like this was the right time for her to approach.
Good thing she did.
The senior went on to perfectly place a free kick from 37 yards into the back of the net for the game's first goal in a 2-0 victory for Massapequa over host MacArthur in Nassau Conference I girls soccer on Monday.
“We usually have other people that take those shots on net but no one was really stepping up, so I just decided to take it,” Brennan said. “I eyed the top-left corner and I just hit the shot. The second I hit it, I knew it was going in.”
Brennan scored with 8:41 left in the second half. Briana Neary struck less than two minutes later off an assist from Kaia Mueller to give Massapequa a 2-0 lead with 6:46 left.
The win improves Massapequa to 10-0-3, including 8-0-2 in Conference I. Monday’s win clinched the Conference I championship for Massapequa, which played in arguably the toughest conference in the region with programs like Syosset, Garden City, South Side and MacArthur all in one ability-based conference. The alignment stemmed from classification changes by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) introducing a Class AAA this year for the state tournament. MacArthur falls to 6-5-2, 5-4-1.
“We didn’t really know what to expect with these good teams,” Brennan said. “We’ve scrimmaged them before and it’s always been a good game. I definitely don’t think we expected to be undefeated this whole time.”
Coach Bruce Stegner largely credits the defense, led by a starting back line of Lena Fleischer, Riley Benito, Nicole Tonello, Kara Jahrsdoerfer and Brennan, for the team’s success. The unit has only allowed two goals this season.
“If you told me in August that we’d be 10-0-3 with only two goals against, I would have taken that in a heartbeat,” Stegner said. “I never thought that was possible in this league because it’s such a good league. … The defense has really been the heart of our team so that’s from them.”
Massapequa has lofty goals outside of the regular season though. The program has won 17 of the last 20 Nassau Class AA titles, including seven Long Island Class AA championships since 2013.
“We’re just looking to go for it all,” Jahrsdoerfer said. “Go for states and we don’t want to do that without being first in the league. Winning states is very important to us, but getting first in the league is also just as important to keep the Massapequa name in its pla
Massapequa, which has won back-to-back Nassau Class AA titles, lost in the Long Island Class AA championship/Southeast Regional Final last season to Ward Melville, the eventual state champions. Massapequa returned a lot of talent, which Stegner also credits to the conference title.
“I’m really impressed by that but that’s really a tribute to the seniors,” he said. “We have 15 seniors and are doing a great job, especially defensively.