Riverhead Charter soccer season ends in regional final after winning first county title
Three years ago, the Riverhead Charter School unveiled its first varsity boys soccer team to Suffolk County. Two years before that, there was only a junior varsity team. Today, they’re playing for championships.
After defeating Southold in a dramatic 2-1 overtime victory to secure its first-ever Suffolk County Class C championship, the Explorers advanced to the NYSPHSAA regional final for the second year in a row. Bradley Bolaj found the winning goal off of a free kick by Aimar Galvez in overtime for Riverhead Charter’s biggest win in program history.
On Saturday afternoon at Harborfields High School, however, Riverhead Charter fell short against North Salem, the defending state champion, 2-0. Take away a controversial penalty kick in the second, and the result may have shifted exponentially.
Dr. Patrick McKinney has been coaching the boys soccer team for five years now, starting on the junior varsity level. The juniors on the team now were on varsity as freshmen. The story has been building quietly, one day at a time.
Riverhead Charter, a school with around 200 kids total in the high school, has found a winning formula.
“At first we took our bumps and bruises,” McKinney said. “But every one of these kids wants to be great. They live for soccer. They’re getting better every single year.”
In their first varsity season, Riverhead Charter posted a 1-13 record. Their improvement in such a small amount of time shows the amount of time and work they’ve put in.
“We’re training all year round,” McKinney said. “A lot of these guys play on club teams when they’re not with us. We also started playing in the Town of Brookhaven league, which has helped us a lot. To get results, you have to train outside of this school season. There is no other way.”
For the first two seasons, Riverhead Charter was classified as a D school based on school enrollment. This season, they were upgraded to a C school, which in turn forced them to play tougher competition.
“We want to play the toughest teams,” McKinney said. “Not only C schools, but we even schedule games against the biggest schools because we want to grow. If we can compete against the schools that have hundreds of kids to pick from, when we play in our own class, it makes it that much easier.”
From 1-13, the Explorers improved to 6-5-1 the following season. This season, playing in League VI, they posted an 8-4 record. Outside of the league, they scheduled games against Kings Park, Bayport-Blue Point and Shoreham-Wading River to keep the competition level at its highest.
Douglas Zelaya-Archaga had a phenomenal season, scoring 20 goals for the Explorers and assisting on five others. That goal total was tied for fourth in all of Suffolk County. Bradley Bolaj also reached the top goal scorers list with nine this season. Daniel Carrera and Aimar Galvez each found the back of the net five times. Goalkeeper Samuel Akinola recorded 97 saves and four clean sheets this season.
Zelaya-Archaga graduates this year, but most of the team returns next season.
“This junior class is very special,” McKinney said. “They were freshmen when we first started on the varsity level. It’s going to be a full-circle moment when they play next year as seniors. The first four-year varsity group in this program. We’re all looking forward to it.”
