East Islip girls wrestling's Makenna Corcoran earns one of seven pins in dual meet victory over Copiague
East Islip’s Makenna Corcoran defeats Copiague’s Sofia Martinez in the 138-pound weight class during a Suffolk girls wrestling dual meet on Wednesday Dec. 17, 2025 at East Islip High School. Credit: Bob Sorensen
Girls wrestling has been prevalent in East Islip and Copiague for several years. When the sport became officially sanctioned by the NYSPHSAA last year, Copiague had its own team, while East Islip girls competed for Bay Shore’s team.
Now that East Islip has its own team, it was only right that its first dual meet came against Copiague.
Makenna Corcoran and East Islip made quite the statement.
Corcoran had one of East Islip’s seven pins in its 49-15 win over Copiague Wednesday night in Islip Terrace.
“I was really nervous because it was the first home match for my school,” Corcoran said. “When I stepped into the circle, all my nerves went away and I just wrestled how I usually wrestle.”
Corcoran pinned Sofia Martinez in 29 seconds at 138 pounds to give EI a 15-9 lead. Corcoran’s father and East Islip’s coach, Ken, has been a key fixture in the girls wrestling community for more than a decade.
“This is 11 years in the making,” Ken Corcoran said. “We started the Team Alpha girls club and East Islip let me use the wrestling room. We started with nine girls and it grew. Every day at practice, we dreamed of this day.”
East Islip’s team also hosts wrestlers from Bayport, Sachem and Sayville. Junior Ava Phillips of Bayport wrestled on Bellport’s team last year.
Phillips scored an early takedown against Ava Villalobos before being taken down on her back. “I was so excited for this match,” Phillips said. “I got a takedown, then she got me off a bad shot, but you’ve just got to get back up and go for it right away.”
Phillips earned another takedown and secured the pin in 1:22 at 126 pounds to set East Islip on a run of nine straight wins. Brooke Rubino, Jordan Glad, Kyleigh Kershner, Sabrina Gabuna and Alicia Cardona each picked up a pin.
Despite this being East Islip’s first year, the team is loaded with talent.
“I loved it at Bellport, but I love it here too,” Phillips said. “This team took two seconds to click.”
“I really think that if we keep working hard and improving, this team is going to be something to look out for,” Makenna Corcoran said.
Longtime Copiague wrestling coach Anthony Cipriano played a big role in the growth of girls wrestling in the town. Cipriano died in 2022 at the age of 52.
“Wrestling Copiague tonight really put another meaning to it,” Ken Corcoran said. “Without coach Cipriano, I may not have had this idea. He was the first person I called when I decided to run the club and he told me to make it happen.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
