No. 1 Mount Sinai finished first in Division II with a 15-1 record this season. They didn’t look so strong on Wednesday at home against No. 5 Mattituck/Southold/Greenport. The Tuckers dominated the first half and played at a level they hadn’t played all season long.
Unfortunately, the Tuckers came up short in the Class C semifinal, 9-5.
The Mustangs got on the board first with a goal in the first minute of the game but the Tuckers (11-6) answered to tie the game up at 1-1 in a Hoeg to Hoeg combination, with Reilly scoring off of a feed by Katie.
After Mt. Sinai scored another goal to take the lead two minutes later, Katie Hoeg came up with a turnover deep in the Mustang defensive zone, taking the ball right at their goalkeeper and whipping it past her to make the score 2-2.
Mackenzie Hoeg, who’s only in seventh grade, scored the go-ahead goal from a feed from her cousin Audrey.
The crowd went wild. The Tuckers were leading, who would’ve thought?
“We gave all that we had,” Katie Hoeg said.
“They were just out-hustling us,” Mustangs head coach Al Bertolone said.
But Mt. Sinai came storming back and scored three straight goals to take the lead 5-3 before Mackenzie found Audrey this time for the Tucker’s fourth goal of the game.
Going into halftime, the game was 5-4 in Mt. Sinai’s favor.
“We have to play our game,” Bertolone yelled at his team. “We can’t let them push us around on our turf!”
Katie Hoeg scored the first goal of the second half to tie it up at 5-5 before Mt. Sinai decided to take over and play like the first-place team that they are.
“We just couldn’t crack that defense,” Tuckers head coach Matt Maloney said. “We had success in the first half but in the second half we just couldn’t keep the ball.”
The Mustangs scored four goals in the second half and cruised to victory.
“I think we had the ball like three times in the second half,” Maloney said. “All the credit to them. They knew what we were trying to do.”
“I could not be upset with the effort of the girls today,” Maloney continued. “They played like it was their last time on a varsity field.”
Though two players graduates this year, Trish Brisotti and Colby Prokop, most of the team returns next year. They have all the tools to make it right back to this game and win.
“Championship or bust next year?” a reporter asked Katie after the game.
She laughed. “I guess we’ll just wait and see.”
Kasey Mitchell scored a game-high five goals for the Mustangs.
SoutholdLOCAL photos by George Faella.
