SWR heading to state soccer tourney after winning Long Island championship

After graduating eight of their starters from the 2022 Suffolk County championship team, there were massive holes that needed to be filled for Shoreham-Wading River’s girls soccer squad to contend this year. But there were three key holdovers: Grace Hillis, Bella Sweet and Morgan Lesiewicz.

This core group, along with the talented players around them, outpaced last year’s effort and brought home the program’s first Class A Long Island Championship since 2019. With a 2-0 victory over Nassau County champion Plainedge (13-3-3) on Saturday at Thomas Cutinella Memorial Field, the Wildcats have punched their ticket into the Class A New York State final four.

Just 15 minutes into the game, SWR (14-3-3) struck first on a beautiful, curling corner kick delivered by Olivia Pesso which landed right in front of Hillis who buried the opportunity and put the Wildcats ahead, 1-0. Hillis has been involved in the scoring column for much of the postseason and a lot of them have come off set pieces.

“I just follow the ball and the ball only,” Hillis said of her prowess in getting to every ball in the box. “Pesso is very precise with her crosses. She knows exactly where I am and she can place it exactly where I want to be.”

As the games get tougher, Hillis only gets more impressive, leaving her mark in every match she plays. After scoring seven goals during the regular season, Hillis has scored four times already in the playoffs.

“I think as the season has gone on, we’ve grown so much as a team, especially defensively,” said Hillis, who plays defensive midfielder for the Wildcats. “I am able to get higher up the field now and help support the attack without having to worry about getting back in time to help the defense.”

“We were definitely very experienced and talented last year,” SWR head coach Adrian Gilmore said. “But this year I’d say there’s more hunger to the group. Even though a lot of the younger girls didn’t start last year, they were on the team and felt that loss in the Long Island championship last year. And it certainly helps having someone who I feel has emerged as the best player in the state in Grace Hillis.”

It should be no surprise that Hillis, who will play for Old Dominion University next year, was involved in the second goal of the game as well. With 17 minutes remaining in the first half, Hillis, on a free kick from around 40 yards out, sent in a ball that created absolute chaos in the box. Players collided with the Plainedge goalkeeper, leaving a bunch of bodies on the turf and Sweet emerged on the end of the pass to score her first goal of the playoffs.

“It was very crazy and I didn’t even realize what was happening in the moment,” Sweet said. “I just threw my body on the line. I got hit in my stomach by the goalie and kicked by the defender but Grace placed the ball perfectly right on my foot so all I had to do was throw my body at the ball.”

Goals are of course the key to victory there’s definitely something to be said about the Wildcats defense, which has yet to allow a goal during the entire postseason, and it all starts with their goalkeeper Lesiewicz. Typically as the competition gets better, more goals tend to be scored. But that’s just not the case for this stout SWR defense.

“I think what really got us through these tough matchups as a team was communication,” Lesiewicz said. “The defense and I communicated very well the past few games and it really makes a difference. For me personally, I know my team relies on me and I never want to let them down. I always do my best to keep the ball in front of me in anyway possible. It’s so important for me to keep us at zero goals against and in the lead.”

Between the midfield play of Pesso, Sweet and Hillis along with crucial center back play of Naomi Harris and Maya Beyersdofer, the defense has been a tough nut to crack. They’ll need their backline to show up again when they take the long bus ride north to Cortland High School on Saturday. 

SWR will play the Section III winner, New Hartford, at 5 p.m. Should they win, the Wildcats will advance to the state finals on Sunday which will be played at SUNY/Cortland.

“I think this team has risen to the challenge all year,” Gilmore said. “They’ve been able to accomplish things that many people didn’t think they’d be able to accomplish, especially after graduating so many seniors. It’s going to be cold and maybe snowy [on Saturday] but I think you have to remember what we’re there for, and that’s to get to that game on Sunday and hopefully win it.”