Entering the Suffolk County Class B boys soccer semifinals on Friday night, Mattituck was convinced it would not duplicate a recent 6-0 loss to archrival Center Moriches.
The Tuckers, however, could not avoid the same fate on the Red Devils’ artificial turf field.
Senior forward Joe Hiller scored four goals and set up another to lead the second-seeded Red Devils (14-3) to a 6-0 win. They will meet No. 1 Babylon in the final at Diamond in the Pines in Coram on Tuesday.
Third-seeded Mattituck (9-6-2) felt it could put the Oct. 17 shutout in the rear-view mirror since the squad had posted a 3-2 comeback victory over Center Moriches earlier in the season.
“We beat them at home. We came here, things didn’t go our way. We were missing guys,” head coach Dan O’Sullivan said of the first 6-0 defeat. “It’s the playoffs. It’s a new season. Everybody’s 0-0 and anything can happen. You’ve got to credit them. They came out today. We had a game plan for the most part that we executed it in the first half. They’re a talented team over there.”
The Red Devils grabbed a 3-0 halftime advantage and never looked back.
“The game just really didn’t go the way we planned,” said senior co-captain and defender/midfielder Justin Fox. “We really battled hard, but we made little mistakes here and there, and it just added up to a couple of goals. … But I’m proud of the boys. We definitely battled pretty hard. It just wasn’t our day.”
Midfielder and co-captain Sean Szczotka, the team’s leading scorer (12 goals, 5 assists), returned after missing a few matches due to a school-related suspension. But his presence could not turn the tide.
“It’s definitely difficult,” he said. “Last year was the real kicker. I thought we had a really good shot of making it. This year we lost a lot of players. This year obviously still hurts.”
It was difficult for the seniors walking off the field after playing their final high school game.
“You never really know it’s your final game until it actually comes, and then when it comes, it really hits,” midfielder Peter Ixcotoyac-Krogulec said. “It’s just really emotional. It’s sad knowing that you’re not going to play with these guys again.”
Just under six minutes into the game, Hiller (28 goals, 8 assists) set the tone, scoring amid a penalty-area scramble, slotting the ball past sophomore goalkeeper Cris Cuellar (7 saves).
The Tuckers tried to equalize as keeper Hunter Bernhard snared a Szczotka right-flank shot at 18:36.
The hosts pulled away in the final ten minutes of the half. Alex Rotunda doubled the lead with a 30-yard blast that ricocheted off the inside of the crossbar before dropping into the net. Hiller converted a penalty kick with 61 seconds remaining for a three-goal halftime advantage.
Center Moriches continued to attack in the second half. Guilherme Rodrigues Dos Santos tallied from close range 1:40 into the period. Hiller struck from the right side for his hat-trick less than two minutes later before adding a breakaway goal at 45:51.
Six Tuckers seniors played their final game, including defenders Daniel Gamboa-Boutcher, Landon Goldsmith and James Jurik, who saw limited action.
“I hurt for Sean, Justin and Pete, guys that have been doing this for quite a few years with me,” O’Sullivan said. “James, Dan and Landon had not touched the field before this year, but they came out every day in practice. They would be the first ones to say we might not touch the field at all but we’re going work to make everybody else better.”
Afterwards, the Tuckers took one final bus trip back to the high school.
“On our talk on the bus home, I always make the seniors speak and the underclassmen step up,” O’Sullivan said. “I’m going preach the fact that they were able to bridge a group that lost 21 seniors [to graduation], and then having a group this year that was not as big. Some of them had not been on a varsity field before. Now we have something to look forward to.”
Ixcotoyac-Krogulec echoed O’Sullivan’s remarks.
“The team put their whole heart into this game,” he said. “I can give props to everyone, especially all the younger guys, the ones that are going to be here for many more years. They’re only going to improve. I hope to see them playing here again and making it further.”