Brentwood, Commack boys soccer teams play to draw as darkness ends game
Brentwood's Jayden Solano, right, moves the ball against Commack midfielder Ryan Curcio in a Suffolk boys soccer game on Thursday in Brentwood. Credit: George A. Faella
Darkness was coming soon to Brentwood’s Ray Perez Field, and the officials determined that there wasn’t enough time to get in two full overtime periods. And so a boys soccer match between two Suffolk AAA heavyweights was called at the end of regulation.
The large crowd on hand Thursday saw Brentwood and Commack play to a 2-2 draw.
Perhaps they will meet again in the postseason to decide who’s best.
Ron Eden wouldn’t mind.
“I’d like to see them for all the marbles,” said the Brentwood coach, who won his 650th game earlier this month and saw this draw extend the program’s League I unbeaten streak to 59 games at 55-0-4.
“If you’re the two best teams, one of us deserves to represent Suffolk County — if we’re the two best teams. There are a lot of good teams. There’s a lot of soccer to be played.”
Commack coach Dave Moran sort of wouldn’t mind a playoff rematch.
“Is it weird to say I hope so and I don’t hope so at the same time?” Moran asked, laughing. “Because they’re well coached and they have tremendous players. High-class program.”
Both are now 6-0-1. Moran’s Cougars have outscored their opponents 40-4. Brentwood has outscored its opponents 35-3.
And both teams are hungry after falling in the 2024 semis.
Brentwood was 15-0-2 when it got ousted by Connetquot.
“A lot of us were in that game that we lost,” said standout senior forward Diego Argueta, one of nine returning starters. “So it’s kind of a revenge thing right now. We want it real bad.”
Argueta’s team owned a 2-1 halftime edge. But Ferenc Bagi equalized it off a rebound with just 3:19 gone in the second half.
“He’s been clutch the whole year, man,” Moran said.
Luke McDonough scored for Commack 2:05 into the game off a corner kick by Brayden O’Boyle, the senior midfielder who played a typically strong game.
But Argueta tied it less than three minutes later, putting a rebound past Zach Bloom, who would make six saves.
Cristian Banegas' header off Oscar Alvarenga’s corner kick gave Brentwood the lead with 2:07 remaining in the half.
Not long before Commack tied it, Brentwood goalkeeper Jessie Perez made a sensational stop for one of his four saves.
“We’re relying on him,” Eden said. “We know we can’t win without him. You have to make that one big save in a game like this.”
