Mepham Boys Soccer Drops Playoff Game to Syosset in PKs

The Mepham Pirates and Syosset Braves needed extra time and then some to decide the winner of Friday's first-round playoff game at Mepham High School. But the fifth-seeded Pirates came up short against the 12th-seeded Braves, losing a heartbreaking game in the final round of PKs, 1-0.

Syosset brothers Matt and Thomas Burrei scored the Braves' two PK goals and junior goalie James Solon made three incredible saves to preserve the win.

Stephen Polimeni scored the lone penalty kick for Mepham.

Mepham goalie Steve Fotinos made five saves in the loss.

Mepham head coach James Koester was proud of his team, despite the end result.

"It's part of the game," he said. "I told them they have nothing to feel badly about. I don't think there was anybody who lost the game for us.

Score: Syosset 1, Mepham 0

Records: Syosset 5-4-4; Mepham 7-5-1

Hero: Solon looked more comfortable in net during the penalty kicks than any other portion of the game. His three diving saves were a testament to his smarts and patience in goal. As for his confidence, Syosset head coach Brett Waxer said that Solon knew they had the game won when it went to PKs. "He came to me right before the pk's and told me, 'We got this one, don't worry about it,'" said Waxer of his heroic goalkeeper. "… He got us the win."

Turning Point: After three consecutive misses by the Braves and Mepham's best player, senior captain Anthony Duranona, stepping up to shoot, all of the momentum was with the home team. Duranona decided to go up the middle with the shot, which was the right choice as Solon had already begun to dive to this right. However, Solon managed to swing one of his legs out and kick the ball away, giving the Braves the chance to win on the next kick – which they did. "When you're making saves like that you have to reward him by getting the win," Waxer said. "It was his doing. It was a great job by him today."

Quotable: "I actually thought we had the better chances, we just didn't finish," Koester said. "… I thought that this was the best game they played all year."

Bottom Line: Friday's game was high school playoff soccer to its fullest extent. Both teams put in an incredible effort and the toughest part about PKs is that one team has to lose in dramatic fashion. In his last game as a Pirate, Duranona broke up close to a dozen Syosset rushes and, along with junior defender Fermin Sorto, kept his team in the game. On the other side of things, the Burrei brothers each went home with a goal. Senior Matt scored first and his sophomore brother, Thomas, scored the winner.

Key Stat: The team combined for just four shots during regulation.

Class AA Playoffs – First Round

Team…………1……2……OT1……OT2……PK – F

Syosset………0……0………0………0………..2 – 1

Mepham…….0……0………0………0………..1 – 0

Saves

S - Solon, 5 saves.

M - Fotinos, 5 saves.