Girls Soccer Loses Counties by Inches
On Tuesday, November 5— Harborfields Girls Varsity soccer entered North Babylon High School as the ultimate underdog. They had beat the #1 seed, Hills West, in the first round of playoffs, and the #4 seed, ESM, in the semi finals. They now faced the #2 seed, Shoreham Wading River in the County Finals.
After the first two games, anything was possible. The Harborfields Girls Soccer team hasn’t made it to counties since 2016, in which the lost in an upsetting game; Including a shot that hit the crossbar, and a debatable off sides call that lost Harborfields the game.
The energy was extremely high, almost every senior except one (Alyssa Anton) has never participated in an official county finals game in their high school career. Captains Alyssa Anton and Gracie Heil made sure to keep everyone highly motivated and hopeful. Gracie Heil said, “We have overcome so many doubts and people underestimated us, we worked so hard to be here and we deserve this win.” Alyssa Anton said, “We are the eighth seed, we barely made it to playoffs and look what we have accomplished.”
The announcer called out introduced the starters, the teams got in their final huddles, and the first whistle sounded. The play was even, with some close calls on both sides, and saves by the Harborfields defense, it started to set in that they could win this.
About halfway through the first half, Brooke Buda took a throw in near Shoreham Wading River’s final third. It came back her way and she crossed it into the box, in which Katie Davis headed in; Making the score 1-0 Harborfields. They went into halftime with the score still at 1-0.
Going into the second half Harborfields knew they had to pull it together to win with this lead. With more close calls on both ends, and saves from the defense; With ten minutes left, Harborfields was still up 1-0. It looked as if the 8th seed was going to go to the Long Island Championship.
A questionable foul was called on Brooke Buda outside the box and a kick was given to Shoreham Wading River. It was assisted in and finished by Ashley Borrielo. With the score at 1-1, a few minutes later Ashley Borrielo scored again with a confusing and crowded shuffle in the box, and a finish.
The final score ended up as 2-1, with Shoreham winning the County Finals. Harborfields walked off the field devastated, but proud of their unlikely accomplishments. Katie Davis said, “I know it hurts now but we need to be proud of our accomplishments, no one had any idea that we would make it to counties, let alone almost win counties. I am so thankful for this season and how close we have come as a team.”
Even after the devastating loss, Harborfields walked away with an underdog story that some people aren’t lucky enough to have their whole life. Harborfields Girls Soccer looks to dominate the conference next fall season.