Westhampton Beach Girls Soccer Loses Its First Playoff Game in Over a Decade at Hauppauge

The Westhampton Beach girls soccer team has faced deficits before this season, so when the team fell behind, 2-0, at Hauppauge in the Suffolk County Class A playoff opener on Saturday, the Hurricanes didn’t feel as though all was lost.

And when junior Sarah Gormley put Westhampton Beach on the board off a penalty kick with 10:36 remaining to make it a one-goal game at 2-1, there was a sense that the Hurricanes could very well make a comeback, or at the very least, force overtime.

But Hauppauge stood tall through the ’Canes advances and held on for the 2-1 win, ending their season. The Eagles advanced to the quarterfinals to play at Half Hollow Hills West, which was played on Tuesday.

“We never gave up,” Westhampton Beach head coach Erika Habersaat said of her team. “We’ve been down 2-0 before so we know how to fight for that. We played these guys in the beginning of the season. It was a 3-1 loss, but the difference between that game and this game is tremendous. We grew as a team and really came together and they fought the entire time.”

Hauppauge was awarded a penalty kick a little over 10 minutes into the game when a Westhampton Beach defender accidentally played the ball off her elbows in the box. Tammy Papadas took the shot for the Eagles and scored to give her team the early 1-0 lead.

Nearly 20 minutes later, Sarah Bento sent a ball in from the sideline that somehow found its way through a sea of players right to the foot of Crisalyn Abruscato, who composed herself well enough at the top of the box to get a strong shot off, which found the back of the net to make it a 2-0 game at halftime.

Westhampton Beach pressured for its first goal through much of the second half, especially early on. In the first five minutes of the half, the ’Canes forced a direct kick from just outside the box and back-to-back corners, but to no avail.

Gormley was taken down for her penalty kick when she played a bouncing ball in the box that she beat the defender to. About 10 minutes or so prior to that, senior Amanda Shannon appeared to be pushed from behind in the box as she was preparing a shot, but the official said to play on.

Win or lose, this was already a successful season for the ’Canes, who ended an 11-year playoff drought after going 8-5 in League IV, 8-6-1 overall.

“This group has set that goal from day one,” Habersaat said of making the postseason. “We knew we were a strong team. We came out hard. We won a couple of those games that got us where we are, gave us the confidence and I think we just got better throughout the season. They fought for it and they believed and they worked together so there’s a lot of good stuff here.”

Eight seniors will be moving on after this season, a list that includes a four-year starter in Shannon, but also Emily Galovic, Bella Blanco, Emily Tully, Laurette Schaumloffel, Marcella Fitzgerald, Kristina Cavaliere and Raquel Shemet.

“They’ve stuck with this for four years. We hadn’t made the playoffs, kept fighting each season and got closer and closer each season,” Habersaat said. “Amanda Shannon will definitely be a big loss. She’s been on varsity since ninth grade and a starter all four years. She’s emerged both as a leader aside from being a great player so that’s a big loss. She had a really good career and I’m happy she got to end it in a playoff game.”

That being said, the core of the team should still be intact come next season, with Gormley leading the charge but a solid cast around her that includes current juniors Ali Mensch and Katie Baker, a strong sophomore group that includes Mia Valenzuela, Lily Strebel and Lana Salvaggio and freshmen Khloe Hoda and Ava Failla.

“I told them that this is basically the bar now,” Habersaat said. “Our goal at the beginning of the season was to get to the playoffs. Now we’re a playoff team and we’re going to try and make some noise in the playoffs.”