Hold Your Head Up High

The Saint Anthony’s Varsity Boys soccer team concluded their season in early November, and there’s no doubt that its members, returning or not, will look back on this year fondly. Soccer is usually an unforgiving sport that seemingly hands out endless bumps and setbacks, but the near-40-man roster was blessed with tons of good fortune and performance over the course of the 2021 season. The Friars ended their phenomenal regular season with an 18-1 record, their best finish since 2017, as crafted by Head Coach Don Corrao and assistant Mike Roecklein, in only their second season together.

To be involved with the Friar soccer program as a player or supporter this year must have felt great going into the start of the season, with virtually all restrictions so prominent in 2020 lifted. There were a large number of returning members from last season’s team, and they had everything to prove and fight for after losing the league championship. Judging by how that team played together, in no sense did they disappoint.

Going 18-1 in soccer speaks volumes to a team’s skill and focus, but what was most heartwarming for any fan who saw these Friars in action this year was how much they enjoyed themselves before each home match. Coach Corrao decided to make this year one to remember, and wanted his players to have more spirit and faith in the team than ever. He decided the varsity team would line up before kickoff at their home games to recite “You’ll Never Walk Alone” by Gerry and the Peacemakers, famous for its fondness among the fans of Liverpool F.C of the English Premier League.  The team had many other rituals, such as the ‘Jugular’ and ‘Dialing In’ which saw themselves as favorites among the players, but the song, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” found itself on the scarves and posters at games, and more importantly, in the hearts of all the Friar supporters. These heartwarming events as well as many others helped the team bond, succeed, and create leaders.

Either by example or character, some members of the team proved themselves as the most venerable players in the program. This year’s team was filled with talent but select Friars; Zack Beach, Dylan Cotter, Sean Louis, and Julian Wicik were recognized for their uncanny skill, character and leadership, earning them top honors, being named captains. 

Beach was an on-field leader, who kept the team’s morale, possession, and goal difference up as he was unrelenting in transition and constant danger to any opponent on either side of the ball. 

Cotter, a fan and team-favorite, was forced to sit his second year in a row with a knee injury, putting him in the role of ‘player-coach’. This was not an issue for him, as he is always the loudest person on the sideline, and there is nothing that he did not do to motivate the team and get the fans excited. Unfortunately, both him and Beach were sidelined for the League Championship after Beach came down injured during a late season match versus Chaminade. 

All year, Julian Wicik was the shining image of leading by example; being loud and demanding in a positive way with his teammates in order to get the best out of them each game. A dynamic and electric attacker who perfectly used his 5-10 frame and shiftiness to take advantage of any mismatched or unprepared defender, creating instant offense for the Friars more times than one can count. 

Finally, Sean Louis, the only defender among the captains. Played and acted with so much fire that opposing attackers often found it near impossible to play around him, and even then had to deal with the Friars’ quick and prudent defensive line that was only more invigorated due to their last man back.

The team captains were only partial factors for the energy brought by the team, as this year the Varsity boys were not shy of entertainment at any moment. On paper, the team looked unrelentingly dangerous – with quick moving triangles formed by either Dominic Algieri, Wicik and John Oualaalou on the left and/or Jakob Friedman, Christopher Thorsen and Joseph Cervini on the right. When you look at the numbers, you would believe that this team was nearly unstoppable on the offensive end. Jake Friedman led the entire league in G/A (Goals and Assists) with 27 total, and Algieri led the league in scoring with 17. Many other Friars were high on the board as well, Wicik had 9 goals, Thorsen with 7, and Ferde Carillo with 6. 

The boys created these phenomenal stat lines in the many shutout wins they had this past fall. They had 12 clean sheets, courtesy of goalkeepers Irwin Ramirez (2023) and Mark Aliscio (2022), who split their minutes this year and recorded 29 and 24 saves respectively. The team had 10 games as well where they won by 4 or more goals, all of those coming with shutouts defensively. 

The amazing pool of players that are graduating this year find themselves leaving a legacy that includes an overall record of 25-8-1, playing through COVID procedures, and having the determination to bring home the CHSAA Title to the Friar Nation. This exceptional generation that is now graduating was supported by 16 strong underclassmen who will now move into bigger roles than they could ever imagine in 2022. The dawn of the upcoming season will see this group be stronger than ever as they come back from the 0-1 loss vs Chaminade in the league Championship. 

With so much talent and competition all over the field, there are a good amount of underclassmen who worked their way up to key rotational players and even instant starters by the end of the season. Coach Corrao says that a certain four players have worked up their role during this year and that they will be four of the most vital and exciting players for years to come; Justin Alves, Joe Joannou, Oualaalou, and Thorsen.

Alves and Joannou were solid rotational players in the defense, and Joannou even made his way into being the starting Center-back in the league championship game. Thorsen and Oualaalou were an absolutely class midfield partnership, starting alongside each other for nearly the whole season. Both put up great numbers, as Thorsen netted nine goals on the season, and Oualaalou dished out four assists to go along with some phenomenal all-around playmaking. 

Specifically focusing on Oualaalou and Joannou, they are very important and exciting members of the program, being the only sophomores on  Varsity. They both play fearlessly, and not once seemed to cower at the pace and physicality of varsity level soccer, always making more than enough crafty passes and great tackles. It goes without saying that these two will have a key role in the program for the next two years; Oualaalou had to say, “Next fall our team will take on many new players. I can only hope that I can be for them what the juniors and seniors have been for me.”

Going from September 2nd to November 7th, is a long journey for a high school athlete, and the Friars made sure that they cherished their last practices of the year, and for many, their last practices as Saint Anthony’s soccer players. During the middle of the last week, the coaches laid back and allowed the players to dress down for practice but with the help of the on-field leaders, the boys stayed laser focused on the final.

This was a quality year for everyone involved in the team and although they didn’t close it out in the way they wanted to, I doubt anyone would wish to take it back. The soccer program will be turning a new page with the departure of the Class of 2022, one consisting of championship-level players for three years and players who have left their mark on the league as a whole. Although it was a tough goodbye in their final year, they didn’t disappoint in keeping their production up and their fans proud.

By: Eamon Bevan is a sophomore writer for Scoreboard at St. Anthony’s High School. He is a member of the JV Soccer team and is involved in several clubs including Franciscan Youth Ministry.

Jake Friedman of St. Anthony's scores for the second time during a CHSAA boys soccer game against Chaminade in Mineola on Tuesday, October 19, 2021. Credit: Peter Frutkoff

By Brian Heyman Updated October 19, 2021 9:01 PM

It happened again and again and again.

The top two boys soccer teams in the NSCHSAA were playing Tuesday. St. Anthony’s trailed by a goal three times at Chaminade. Each time, the Friars tied the Flyers — and then finally zipped on by their rivals.

Jake Friedman delivered two goals and three assists, Dominic Algieri contributed two goals and two assists and Aidan Heron scored twice in St. Anthony’s 6-4 win, which was also Chaminade’s first league loss.

"I think we showed a lot of character," Friars coach Don Corrao said after the comebacks from 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 deficits. "We can be a very explosive team."

SEE PHOTOSPhotos: St. Anthony's vs. Chaminade boys soccer

Barring any upsets in Chaminade’s final two games and St. Anthony’s final three, the Flyers (10-4-1, 9-1) and the Friars (12-1, 8-1) will finish as regular-season co-champs. Chaminade won the first meeting, 2-1. Coach Mike Gallagher wasn’t fretting over the rematch.

"It’s a game on a Tuesday against a competitive team," Gallagher said. "It’s part of the league. We’ll see them in the playoffs. The difficulty of playing on this pitch, because of the [smaller] size, was there was less soccer being played. The game was determined by restarts, throw-ins, stuff like that."

Friedman seemed to be in the middle of every good thing for St. Anthony’s.

"Jake is a very special player," Corrao said of the senior forward/midfielder.

Heron leveled it at 3 against Matthew Canade (three saves) with 36:40 left, following Friedman’s right-side corner kick. Friedman gave St. Anthony’s the lead off a rebound 4:29 later. Heron made it 5-3 3:07 after that.

Joe Sayers beat Mark Aliscio (six saves) to cut it to one, but Friedman took out insurance with 11:40 remaining.

"We persist through anything," Friedman said. "We’ve had some tough results here. We just wanted it more today."

Luca Giannola and Francesco Pavano scored for Chaminade in the first half. But Algieri, set up by Friedman, countered each time. James Cooney's header 10 seconds after halftime provided Chaminade with a 3-2 edge.

"I’m just proud how we responded after giving up that goal early in the second half," said Justin Alves, who moved from center back and filled in well as a center defensive midfielder after captain Zach Beach suffered a foot injury in the first half. "We could’ve folded."

In a Midseason doubleheader, the boys’ JV and Varsity soccer teams saw themselves traveling to New Jersey on October 3rd to face off with the Crusaders of Bergen Catholic. This was a pivotal moment of the season, as both groups of Friars looked to complete the first halves of their seasons on high notes. The Varsity was playing to get back to their winning streak after Chaminade gave them their only loss of the season two weeks prior, and the JV was working to win a third game in four days. In two highly competitive midday battles, both the JV and Varsity teams found themselves on top of their respective matchups. 

After a two hour early morning trip from South Huntington to Oradell, NJ, the Friars were anything but unprepared to take on the Crusaders in their own backyard at Jack McGovern field. The first game of the day between the two schools saw the JV teams kick off just past one with the sides locked in a back and forth slugfest during the opening twenty minutes. The only factors keeping the scoreboard silent were both sides’ keepers, highlighted by a stellar save by the Friars’ own Jamison Draddy, whose one handed grab of a bouncing effort from the top of the six yard box kept St. Anthony’s clean sheet alive. This would prove as a turning point in the game, as the Friars would exhibit a fluent offense to close out the half led by incredible ball movement and possession by midfielders, Stephen Galindo and Aristeo Aniceto. These first half efforts would have been shortly rewarded if not for the Crusaders’ far post, which rattled away a long range curling effort from Carlo Maricevic, in the closing moments of the first forty-five.

  Coming out of the half, the Friars refused to let up. St. Anthony’s dominant possession led up to a 54th minute goal by Eamon Bevan, assisted by Aristeo Aniceto, off of a corner kick. As the Crusaders pushed for a much-needed equalizer throughout the rest of the half, the Friars would cease to let up with wonderful defensive efforts by Nick Kosciusko, Captains Dean Muratore and Gunnar Anderson, and second half goalkeeper, Danny Vanarsdale, who all contributed to the clean sheet in a 1-0 Friar win to start the afternoon. After the final whistle, the team was relieved and celebrated the victory, clearing the field as the Varsity was set to make it a St. Anthony’s sweep on the day. 

This trip was the second occasion of the season in which the Varsity soccer team went out of state to show what they could do. The first being a three-game win streak against La Salle, Barrington, and Bergen’s fierce North Jersey rival in Don Bosco. This time around was no different. The Varsity Friars, right from the opening kickoff, showed no fear in backing the home side into a corner. With key performances early on in the first half by Julian Wicik, John Oualaalou, Jake Friedman and Chris Thorsen (who was moved to striker in the absence of Dominic Algieri), St. Anthony’s were able to keep almost all plays within Bergen’s defensive third throughout the first quarter of the game. 

With the momentum they had been gaining, it was only right that the first ten minutes of action would see captain Julian Wicik convert an uncontested tap-in at the far post to see his team lead 1-0. In the next fifteen minutes, the Friars would enjoy a cushion of possession and uncontained combination of chances taken by their offense. Towards the end of the second half, the eyes of the Crusaders snapped open at a very important junction. Bergen attacked at an unseen level in the match, taking all of the right chances they could get from an unworked SA defense, and turned the game on its head with several shots clipping the woodwork. Within the closing minutes of the half, these chances from Bergen culminated in a scramble inside the Friars’ six yard box, and following two strikes into his woodwork, a heroic save was prompted from goalkeeper Irwin Ramirez, but at a cost, a fall cushioned by a blow to his side, saw him rendered as injured for the remainder of the game. 

This scenario wouldn’t change a bit as the second half kicked off. The Crusaders stormed back onto the field with a vengeance that carried on through halftime by their momentum. The balance of the affair, for the remainder of the game, saw both sides locked in a back and forth duel until about fifteen minutes into the half, when Bergen would pick up their momentum once more. With unrelenting play on the wings, a dangerous corner kick saw the Crusaders finally be rewarded with a leveler. 

 It seemed the stakes of the moment would be drilled back into their heads, and their energy would finally pick up. With as good as a press that Bergen was able to put on, subbed-on goalkeeper, Mark Aliscio, pulled off several fantastic efforts as the anchor in countless defensive stops and building plays for the Friars. 

Almost instantaneously, following a series of terrific efforts by Aliscio in net, the Friars would put on a master class of the sport down the right side of the field. Through the inspired work of right back Cervini and winger Friedman, they were able to set up several increasingly dangerous balls through the middle of the field, with all of the momentum sliding into their favor. Finally, reaching the 70 minute mark of the game, a bending service from Friedman found the head of Chris Thorsen, who with a wonderfully headed strike, put the Friars back up one. With only a one goal difference, the Friars had an intense on field momentum that was put into jeopardy by several pushes motivated by the home crowd and the scrappy Crusaders. 

Luckily for the Friars, fantastic and constant defensive stops were piling in from center backs, Justin Alves and Aidan Heron, allowing more offensive windows to open. In what seemed like an instant, the right side of the field opened once more, and Friedman who had fallen back on defense sent a beautiful ball through to Thorsen, on the Crusaders’ 30 yard line. With pressure from all angles, Thorsen managed to send an absolute thunderbolt dipping into the side of the net. 

With under five minutes left, the Friars easily saw themselves through to the final whistle as the team was victorious in their last game for the first half of the year with a sweep of the Crusaders.

These fantastic efforts from both Friar sides saw records improve to 4-1-1 for the JVA, and 9-1 for Varsity, with the second half of the season setting their ambitions for the playoffs into full gear. The JV team has 6 games remaining on their schedule before playoffs and the varsity looks to end their regular season on Oct. 28th as successful as they started. All eyes are now set on the championship game coming November 7th.

By: Eamon Bevan is a sophomore writer for the Scoreboard at St. Anthony’s High School. He is a member of the JV Soccer team and is involved in several clubs including Franciscan Youth Ministry.

Dante Torres (Jr.); QB – St. Anthony’s Friars

During the period stretching from 1993 thru 2013, the words “football” and “championship” were practically synonymous terms in South Huntington…A genuine dynasty that collected 14 AAA crowns and finished as bridesmaids on the other six occasions, the Friars built of yesteryear built a legacy that will forever survive the test of time…

Since 2014, St. Anthony’s advanced to title weekend just once and have been unable to adorn the trophy case with hardware…

THE TIDE IS ONCE AGAIN HIGH, TRADITION is about to be restored, and at/under center of the uprising is the 6’3, 195-pound, junior sniper hailing from Massapequa [Torres]…

One of those rare student-athletes that you know it destined for greatness just from taking one glimpse at them, if you watched the #3 jersey as a Freshman in 2019 you could not help but envision what was in store for him in the coming years…And now that the future is the present, he sincerely has exceeded the most ambitious of expectations…

The epitome of what it means to be a dual-threat quarterback, there was not a piece of his arsenal that went undeployed in the Friars’ 48-28 triumph under the Friday night lights on September 24th against defending (2019) triple-A league champs, Cardinal Hayes…

Putting forth the most exquisite collective effort of his still budding varsity career, Torres sniped his way to career-bests in passing yards (316) and touchdowns thrown (3), as he completed 16 of 26 attempts versus the visiting Cardinals.  But this told just half the story…When he was not busy tearing up the opposing secondary with lasers, he proved to be quite adept as a runner.  Carrying the ball just six times, he accumulated 80 yards + two additional scores to round out a stunning five TD night!

The Black & Gold already out to a 7-0 lead (67-yard TD trek by senior RB, Joshua Escobar, on the second snap of the game), Torres hooked up with his favorite target, sophomore wide-out extraordinaire, KJ Duff Jr. (6 receptions for 193 yards) on a 3-yard jump ball in the end zone to increase the St. Anthony’s lead to 13-0 less than five minutes into the 1^st quarter…This touchdown exchange between the two blue chippers marked the first of three drives that the duo teamed up to culminate…Earlier in the series, they connected on a 20-yard completion on 4^th & 11 to put the ‘skin at the Hayes’ 6-yard-line.

3:20 into the 2^nd quarter, Torres’ legs did the talking as he made the opponent pay for a turnover on downs by faking a hand-off, cutting right and then cutting back to the middle of the gridiron for a 54-yard dash to the office to further pad the cushion (20-0)…

STA’s fourth touchdown of the opening half came with 6:13 remaining as Torres went back to Duff, lofting a perfect toss over the shoulder of the 6’5 phenom, who then spun and shed a tackler to conclude the 43-yard TD pitch-and-catch to put Joe Minucci’s brood up 27-0.

Hayes finally on the board (27-7), Torres snuffed out any reason for hope in the last 19.1 seconds before the intermission when he punched in a 1-yard QB keeper for his second rushing TD and fourth overall “6” in a matter of 24 minutes…

The encore for Torres and his partner in crime & punishment [Duff] came approximately 90 seconds into the 4^th when the former hurled an immaculate dart over the middle and then let the latter leave defenders in his wake and rack up the YAC for the 50-yard punctuation!

Holding campus visit invitations from the likes of UCONN, Dartmouth, and Princeton among other interested suitors, Torres enters the fourth week of the regular season [vs. St. Peter’s] having thrown for 659 yards and four touchdowns on 46 of 75 passing (61.3%)…And he’s just getting warmed up!

*BOYS SOCCER

• Try Out Monday 8/23 - 25th. On Cy Donnelly Field

  • ALL PLAYERS MUST WEAR A WHITE T SHIRT with your name on the back.  

  • Equipment required: cleats, running shoes, shin guards, and water.

MONDAY 8/23

• VARSITY:   Cy Donnelly Field 6:00 -7:30 PM

• JVA:  Cy Donnelly Field 3:00 -4:30 PM

• JVB (Freshmen):  NO MONDAY TRYOUTS 

  • JVB Tuesday 3:30 -5:00 Cy Donnelly 

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  • Boys Tryout updated time for 8/26 

  • Varsity Boys Soccer	CY Donnelly Field		3:00 PM	5:00 PM
    JVA Boys Soccer	METZGER STADIUM		3:00 PM	5:00 PM
    JVB Boys Soccer	METZGER STADIUM		6:30 PM	8:30 PM