Pierson Boys Soccer Building Toward Postseason Berth

It may not have been the prettiest of wins but one the Pierson/Bridgehampton boys soccer team will certainly take.

The Whalers defeated winless Port Jefferson, 1-0, in a late Monday morning tilt at Mashashimuet Park. The low scoring affair barely depicted how much Pierson dominated this game in just about all facets. The defense, led by seniors Ryder Esposito and Gus Hayes, really didn’t allow much to get to sophomore goalie Braeden Mott. And the offense got going early when Bridgehampton senior Helio Paucar found junior Andy Wayne open and he scored easily to make it a one-goal game just over 20 minutes in.

It looked like the Whalers, who defeated Port Jeff, 4-1, earlier this season, were going to pour it on from there as they were getting open look after open look. But a cross bar there, a post here, a wide shot there, a high shot here. It finished a 1-0 game in favor of Pierson and first-year head coach Luis Aguilar said the way things have been going for his team this season, he’ll take it.

“We’re, at this point of the season, with the upcoming schedule that we have and the four games left, realistically we’re looking to keep our guys healthy, keep them going,” he said after the game. “Just keep them in the game mentally and just have them ready for the postseason.

“At this rate, as much as I like to focus on the next day, we’re planning on going into the postseason, so we’d like to have all of our guys fit and ready.”

The aforementioned Esposito, who helped maintain the back for Pierson, admitted Monday’s game was a “little bit of a boring game,” he said with a laugh. And he did feel like some of team’s top players were constantly being rotated in and out, as per Aguilar’s direction.

“I feel like we had some key kids who weren’t playing as much today,” he said. “I feel like against a team like Greenport, maybe they would have played more and that would have been a competitive and close game.”

Pierson’s biggest win of the season came two days prior to Monday’s victory when it defeated Greenport, 2-1, in overtime on Saturday. Wilmer Reyes scored a goal and Quinn Tanner scored the game-winner in overtime. It turned around a 6-0 loss in Greenport in the season opener back on September 9. Aguilar said that was a hot and grueling day where he lost a number of players to injury, and with many of his players back now, that it was good to see the latest outcome.

It’s also good to see because it looks as though Pierson and Greenport will lock up in the playoffs, if not in a typical playoff setting then in an outright Suffolk County Class C Championship, with both teams, as of Tuesday morning, having 6-6 records.

“That’s the goal,” to make the playoffs, Aguilar said. “We try and keep our season going as long as possible, but I mean, as I tell the boys, we have to take it one day at a time because the amount of injuries that we’ve had, the amount of players we started with, it was tough. The boys picked it up, they’re resilient, they’re great, they work hard and I really can’t ask for much more.”

Pierson played at Babylon on Wednesday and then hosted its Senior Game Thursday, October 12, against Port Jeff again at 4:30 p.m. The Whalers then play a nonleague game at Hampton Bays on Saturday at 1 p.m. before finishing the regular season at Mattituck on Tuesday, October 17, at 4 p.m.