As the Lynbrook Owls headed into the final third of the season, the team knew exactly what they needed to do in order to earn their 5th post season berth in as many years. A win versus VSN and Hewlett were a necessity and then a final point in their last two matches would put them through. On a rain soaked Saturday, the Owls took care of VSN 3-1 and now they needed to have a similar result against Hewlett HS which they played to a 0-0 draw earlier in the season. Knowing what was at stake, the Owls took flight at 6PM at Hewlett’s high school turf field knowing that anything less than 3 points and a victory would be disappointing at best.

After settling in to the game and making some slight adjustments to personnel, the Owls struck first in the 14th minute of the game when Michael Werzinger slotted a pass through to Patrick O’Doherty who beat Hewlett’s Matthew Fridburg (3 saves) to the back post to give the Owls the lead and the eventual game winning goal. The Owls played a strong first half and generated a number of chances only to see the half end with the same 1-0 lead.

At the halftime break, the coaching staff talked about playing hard and not letting down the intensity as the 1-goal lead was tenuous at best. The Owls would want the insurance goals to make sure the Bulldogs would not get back in the game. The second half saw the Owls take the foot off the gas a bit and Hewlett responded with generating more forward as the Lynbrook squad need the defense to do what they have done in the past 9 games and come up big over and over as the opposition pressed for the equalizer.

After a close call in the 61st minute or so that saw a referee’s decision that could have gone either way, favor the visiting Owls who bent a bit and allowed the home school to get in deep a number of times. The defensive line of Pantano, Martinez, Addona and Byrne continue to be solid as they held Hewlett scoreless and allowed Jake Prince to record his 4th clean sheet of the season (3 saves).

With 2 games remaining the Owls need to take one game at a time. Next up is Mineola on Friday where the Owls will open the day with a celebration of their 8 seniors and then look to continue their tough to the ball play as they host the Mustangs at South Middle School on the back field.

Congrats Owls on another win and we look forward to supporting your efforts on Friday.

Pictures from the game can be found here:
https://lhssoccer.jalbum.net/%40%20Hewlett%202023/