Wildcats off to scorching start to soccer season

The Shoreham-Wading River boys soccer team came sprinting out of the gates again this season, highlighted by a 7-0 victory over Bayport-Blue Point Monday afternoon at Shoreham-Wading River High School. It’s a little bit like déja vu all over again. Last year, the Wildcats went undefeated through the first nine games of the season before falling apart late and ending the year with an early playoff exit.

Through their first three games this season, the Wildcats have posted a 3-0 record, scoring 16 goals while giving up only one. Energy and positivity are high and head coach Rob Marine-Mancuso is doing everything he can to keep his team on track from start to finish.

“I’m lucky to work with a hardworking bunch of guys,” Marine-Mancuso said. “It’s on them to not have that drop-off this year and keep the motivation running throughout the season. Even though we’ve had some early exits in the playoffs the last couple of years, it’s not like they haven’t been close games. We’ve just been on the wrong side of one-goal games.”

Last year, SWR dropped four of their last five games, including a 1-0 loss to Amityville in the playoffs. Though they were all by one goal, losing game after game dinged team morale and the Wildcats weren’t able to work themselves back out of that hole before the playoffs began. But that was last year. The players on this year’s team are committed to competing for a Suffolk County title.

“We have incredible firepower up front,” senior captain Patrick Morano said. “Any one of those guys can score us a goal on any given day. And our chemistry is on another level this year. Nobody is fighting with each other. We’re trying to put it all together and go far. Maybe even states.”

Goal scoring has been spread out pretty evenly through the first three games as Marine-Mancuso shuffles through his lineup, going deep down the bench and rotating players so they stay fresh. There’s not a lot of drop off from the starters to the backups.

Co-captain Samuel Sweet leads the team in points so far, with three goals and two assists. Sophomore Zach Makarewicz, who scored the second goal of the game against Bayport-Blue Point after catching up to a through ball down the right side, has tallied four goals in the first three games. Andrew Stiene has been busy setting up his teammates, assisting on four goals thus far. Tyler Nowaski, a junior, scored two against Bayport-Blue Point to up his total to three on the season.

“It’s great being so deep up front,” Marine-Mancuso said. “With the style of play we have, the ball kind of just finds the open person. There’s no room for selfishness in this offensive attack. Whoever finds the ball in front of the net is taking the shot. I feel comfortable with any of our guys to finish the opportunities.”

SWR’s varsity team rarely counts many underclassman but this year’s squad has five sophomores in Makarewicz, Evan Degroot, Owen Dubato, John Zoumas and Richard Cordano. Marine-Mancuso simply couldn’t keep them in JV. 

“They all had incredible seasons last year on JV and they deserve to be here,” the coach said. “If I didn’t see them getting significant minutes on the team I wouldn’t have brought them up. Having them on the team only pushes everyone else to work harder.”

So far, the overall group of players seems to be meshing well with their ability to communicate and pass the ball with ease throughout the field. 

“It’s our chemistry this year,” fullback Ryan Saville said. “We’re all on the same page trying to achieve the same goal. The more we can stay together as a team the more likely we’ll be playing some meaningful games at the end of the season.”