Pierson Battles Rival Southampton to 1-1 Draw

The Pierson/Bridgehampton boys soccer team battled the rain and Southampton to a 1-1 draw last Thursday.

“They fought hard. I think they did pretty well,” Pierson assistant coach Luis Aguilar said. “We were a little slow to start, but we always come back.”

Southampton sophomore Nicholas Gonzalez put the Mariners on the board first late in the first half.

While crossing the right side corner of the box, the striker received the ball on a bounce, beat out a defender and poked the ball to his left and into the right corner for the goal, with 2:55 to play.

“We’re working to sharpen our offensive pieces all season long, but we wanted to try to get up early,” Southampton head coach Dave Riley said.

Southampton senior goalkeeper Riley Herrmann made a stop to open the second half, but Wilmer Reyes tied it up for Pierson with a breakaway goal to the left side of the cage.

“It took us a while to respond — took us a little while to get to the game we wanted to play — but we did what we planned to do,” Aguilar said. “We moved the ball and spread out the field to get the opposing team to move and just cut the ball back and tried to finish the chances that we had.”

Unfortunately, neither team could capitalize on their opportunities late. Reyes had a second-straight breakaway at the 20:11 mark, but his cross to the right went wide. With 2:30 left in the first overtime session, Gonzalez had his own chance to put another away.

“The intensity was lacking at the end, but they have great camaraderie with each other and us as coaches,” Aguilar said. “They fight for us, and we appreciate everything they do.”

The Whalers, moving to 3-1-2 on the season, worked their way back to their second-straight tie this season after ending a September 20 matchup in Mattituck in a 1-1 draw. The Whalers traveled to Smithtown Christian Saturday morning, but results were not available by press time.

“We’re proud of them. They played really well,” Riley said. “Pierson’s a great team this year, so we’ll take a tie. It could’ve went either way in the end.”

Southampton is now 4-3-1 in League V after bouncing back from the tie with a 2-1 win over Mattituck on Saturday. Gonzalez and junior forward Jhoseph Garay Montalvo each found the back of the net. Herrmann and senior Andy Panza made four stops apiece.

“We’ve been progressing nicely. We started with a 2-0 loss to Southold, and this is not the same team that played Southold,” Riley said. “This team has tremendous potential if we keep the growth curve as it is.”