Cyclones Boys Soccer Are Nassau County Champs

There are several adjectives one could use to describe the athletes on the South Side Cyclones boy's soccer team: tough, hard-nosed, committed, resilient. Now you can add one more to that list — county champions.

The No. 2 ranked Cyclones beat fourth-ranked Wantagh 1-0 last night at Hofstra for the Class A Nassau County Championship, stymieing a second-half offensive assault by the Warriors to win their second county title in as many years.

"This is a group that knew it could do this," South Side head coach Fred Paul said. "But this is only goal number two. We won the conference and the counties. Sunday accomplishes the next part."

The Cyclones will play the winner of the Glenn- Sayville game in the Class A Long Island Championship this Sunday at the Dowling Sports Complex.

In a game dominated by defense, South Side scored on its first shot on goal in the first half — a beautiful corner kick by senior co-captain Ben Tetelman to sophomore Mark Romanowski, who buried a header passed a diving Dan Hagan just 11:14 into the game.

"It was a great corner kick," Romanowski said, deflecting the praise onto Tetelman. "It just happened to go in."

Wantagh head coach Tom Liguori said Romanowski's shot caught his team off guard. "They caught us napping," he said. "We tried to dig ourselves out of that hole all game; we just couldn't do it."

The match started in Wantagh's favor as the Warriors came out firing on all cylinders. In the first four minutes of the half, Wantagh's Sean DeVito and Mike Rumel fired two shots on goal, but goalie Deven Khosla made two athletic saves to quell the Warriors' attack.

After Romanowski's score, senior Mike Hayes made a goal-saving defensive play in the net after Rumel laced a shot on goal with Khosla out of position. The Cyclones held the Warriors to only three shots on goal in the first half without any corner kicks, thanks to outstanding defense by seniors Jeff Cohen, Mike Hayes and junior Will Nelson. "Guys like Jeff, they fly under the radar," Paul said of his stalwart defenders. "They work so hard. We let up three goals this season. It's a team effort."

The Cyclones needed to play its best defense in the second half, as Wantagh seemed to be playing one-notch faster than South Side to start the final 40 minutes. The Warriors controlled the ball for the first ten minutes of the second stanza, winning every 50/50 and playing with an increased sense of urgency. But after the Cyclones fought off Wantagh's initial attack, South Side got right back to doing what they did all season — creating opportunities off great defense.

Though shots on goal by Romanowski and co-captain Mike Marano didn't find the back of the net in the game's final 12 minutes, the momentum had shifted back to South Side, who held on for the 1-0 win.

"We knew they would come out strong in the second half," Romanowski said. "So we knew we had to hold them for the first 15 to 20 minutes."

Wantagh coach Tom Liguori said that the loss was a disappointment, but his team had a great season. "When we reflect on the season, we should feel proud of our accomplishments," he said. "We gave them everything we had in the second half. You have to credit South Side though, they're a good team. We made a valiant effort, and we scratched and clawed to the last second."

South Side will play for the Class A Long Island championship on Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Dowling Sports Complex.