By PAUL GOTHAM
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — Opportunities came early. The ability to capitalize didn’t accompany those chances.
Such was the fate for the Hilton boys’ soccer team, Sunday morning.
A back-and-forth affair for 20 minutes turned one-sided, and the Cadets found themselves on the wrong side of the outcome.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling just because you’re so proud to be here,” Hilton head coach Mike Ellicott said after a 5-nil loss to West Islip (XI) in the New York State Class AA Championship. “At the same time, we got ourselves into a hole. We wanted to chase the game a little bit.”
Deadlocked in a scoreless tie after 22 minutes of action, the Cadets eventually went into halftime trailing 3-0.
“We knew they were an attacking powerhouse,” Ellicott said of West Islip. “They really, really attack well. They play a good group of guys in the back and nobody in the midfield and they just send it. It’s a style of soccer that works for them and congratulations to them.”
Brendan McMahon nodded in a corner kick with 17:23 left in the opening stanza to start the scoring. Nearly 11 minutes later, Aidan Lodie finished a breakaway to double the advantage. Jack Dellipizzi all but put the match out of reach when he connected on another corner kick opportunity just before the break.
2:02 remaining in the first half NYS Class AA Boys: Set pieces are dangerous. For the second time in the opening half, @WestIslipLions converts a corner kick. This time Jack Dellipizzi finishes. West Islip 3-nil heading into halftime. pic.twitter.com/9Y7cR0zHxA
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) November 14, 2021
“The situations that led to the goals just put us on our heels a little bit,” Ellicott noted. “We got a little rattled by that and we didn’t adjust. That was unfortunate. We see that all the time in sports. One little bump in the road can either make you shore up your back and make you work harder. Or you can maybe question somethings. We decided to question somethings a little bit.”
The three goals allowed in 40 minutes of play equalled as many as the Cadets had surrendered in their five previous post-season contests combined.
“Twenty-two, twenty-three minutes in when we kinda hit those little bumps in the road, we didn’t have that ‘all right put on your hard hat, dig that ditch and work hard.’ It was kind of a ‘oh crap, we got ourselves in a hole now. These guys kinda look like they’re good.’ We never really responded to them. We just kinda fell apart.”
Hilton was looking to win the program’s first state title since 1987 when the Cadets topped Garden City to take the Class A title.
The state championship was the first for West Islip.
Joe Blackton and Joel Silva added second-half tallies for West Islip.
Hilton (No. 3 NYSSWA Class AA) had outlasted the weather and controversy on Saturday to reach Sunday’s championship game. Rain and wind with lightning forced organizers to move some games and delay others. The Cadets scored the game-winner in overtime before the storms arrived. The play on which the Cadets clinched a spot in the championship was protested by the opposing squad, Mamaroneck (I). A handball resulting from a “second” ball entering the playing field prompted the objection.
Players from both teams were ushered into respective locker rooms while a ruling was reached on the protest. Meanwhile fans scattered to vehicles before the storm came all wondering if the game was final or to be continued.
Hilton (19-2-1) had won 13 straight heading into Sunday’s game.
“We are definitely feeling a little aggrieved in that we don’t feel like we played as well as we could have done. That’s the initial feeling right after the game. That’s from the boys as well as us (coaching staff). We couldn’t be prouder of these kids in getting to this point. It’s been a really nice experience.”
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