Northport wins Suffolk Class AA boys soccer championship, first outright county title since 1982
Northport celebrates a goal by Owen Lucano during the Suffolk Class AA boys soccer final against Deer Park in Islip on Monday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
The players standing by the Northport bench began the countdown with 10 seconds left, but they charged out on the field before the task was complete.
All the Tigers raced toward their supporters in a corner, gathered beyond a fence.
The exuberance was warranted. It had been a rather long time between county titles for this boys soccer program.
Top-seeded Northport came to Islip High on Monday in pursuit of its first outright Suffolk championship since 1982. The Tigers delivered it with an exceptional 3-0 win over second-seeded Deer Park in the Class AA final.
“Unbelievable,” Northport coach Don Strasser said.
“The boys played their hearts out tonight. We said it’s a win for every player that has come through the program in the past 43 years. We played for them tonight.”
Forty-three years. And it was this group that finally did it.
“We’ve been working our whole life toward this,” said senior right wing Thomas Fierro, who had a goal and an assist.
“We’ve all been playing together for so long. Our chemistry is really high. We all want it as much as me.”
Fierro said the Tigers (18-1) will be “definitely the underdogs” for the Long Island championship game/Southeast Regional final against defending state champion Garden City (17-2), set for 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Islip.
But he also said, “They’ve got to watch out for us.”
Or as senior midfielder Owen Lucano put it: “We want to be the best team on the Island. That’s our goal.”
Fierro sent a cross to Joey Smith, who headed it past Pearse Boylan for the first goal with 19:48 left in the first half.
Then Fierro banged in a rebound of his own shot with 6:57 remaining until the intermission.
Dylan Naughton soon made a nifty save for Northport, one of his eight stops, and so it was 2-0 at halftime.
“We just had a tough time with their speed up top,” Falcons coach Ryan Argenziano said.
Lucano provided an exclamation point with 26:43 left, firing a sensational shot into the right side of the net from 30 yards out.
So Deer Park, which had to overcome losing senior center back Cristian Miller to a knee injury in early October, finished at 13-3-3.
“It’s been an outstanding year,” Argenziano said. “Extremely proud of the boys.”
