Commack boys soccer team wins state Class AAA title
Commack celebrates its win in the state Class AAA boys soccer championship on Sunday in Middletown, N.Y. Credit: Jorge Marcano
MIDDLETOWN — The Commack players gathered in a circle in front of one of the goals on the windswept Faller Field turf at Middletown High. The man standing in the middle wanted to say a few words to the best Class AAA boys soccer team in the state.
After recapping a wild weekend that began Friday with the team bus accidentally bound for Middletown, Connecticut, moved on to a lightning delay of more than two hours in the middle of a rain-soaked state semifinal Saturday night and concluded with Sunday’s final, Cougars coach Dave Moran spoke about togetherness:
“There’s never been an ‘I.’ There’s only been a . . . ”
He let the players yell the finish to the sentence with a “we.”
This particular Commack soccer family made its last day together count in the Orange County chill. The Cougars edged Fairport, the undefeated defending state champ from Section V, 1-0, on Ryan Curcio’s early goal to claim the program’s first state crown since 2014, when it also beat Fairport for first prize.
“I just love these guys so much,” Moran, an assistant coach for that 2014 team, said after the huddle broke.
“Sorry, I’m a little emotional right now. But I’ve had some of these guys since eighth and ninth grade, and I promised them we’d win a state championship because I believed in them and the underclassmen behind them. They, all season, made it about the team . . . To have my name associated with these 40 guys makes me proud.”
These guys took the program’s third state championship overall, the second outright.
“As much as it’s unlucky that the season’s over, we went out with a bang, especially my senior year,” wing Ryan Schalk said. “I just can’t believe we did it. I’m so proud of this squad.”
It became the sixth from Section XI to win the title in the state’s largest classification dating to 2014.
“Just the best feeling ever to be able to do it with this type of team with all the kids I played [with] my whole entire life,” senior midfielder Brayden O’Boyle said. “It’s like a dream come true.”
O’Boyle set up the goal when he made a move on the left side to free himself for a cross to Curcio. The junior center attacking midfielder tapped it in from about 6 yards out with just 6:49 gone.
“It’s special and it’s an honor,” Curcio said of scoring the winning goal in a state championship game. “I truly do mean that I’m doing this for the seniors.”
Fairport (18-1) hit a post and a crossbar along the way.
The Red Raiders got an advantage with 10:22 left. O’Boyle was called for a dangerous high kick, his second yellow card, which meant a red card, which meant Commack would be a man short from there.
“The worst feeling,” O’Boyle said. “I didn’t mean to do it, and I felt extremely bad. But my team was able to pick me up.”
Senior goalkeeper Zach Bloom, who made three saves, senior center back Luke McDonough and the Cougars held on for their 13th clean sheet.
“They finished an opportunity and unfortunately we didn’t,” Fairport coach Bill Teasdale said. “They’re a very good team.”
They’re a team that finished a 20-1-1 run with a state championship plaque in its hands.
“We’ve always had a theme of ‘we’ and ‘family,’ and I just feel like today we came together, battled through it all,” McDonough said. “We’ve had so many ups and downs. But today we just stuck together as a family and got it done.”
