High School Soccer

BY CHRIS MASCARO

Before we get to the matchups, here's a list of the Suffolk league champions:

League I: Ward Melville
League II: Connetquot
League III: East Islip
League IV: North Babylon
League V: Islip and Sayville both finished 10-1-1 and split their two meetings this season.
League VI: Harborfields
League VII: Glenn
League VIII: Center Moriches

The Class AA Suffolk playoffs begin tomorrow at 2 p.m. Here are the matchups:

-No. 9 Deer Park at No. 8 Patchogue-Medford (the winner will play at No. 1 East Islip next Wednesday at 3 p.m.)
-No. 12 Floyd at No. 5 Northport
-No. 13 Centereach at No. 4 North Babylon
-No. 14 Sachem North at No. 3 Ward Melville
-No. 11 Smithtown West at No. 6 Commack
-No. 10 Sachem East at No. 7 West Islip
-No. 15 Half Hollow Hills East at No. 2 Connetquot

In my estimation, the only real intriguing first-round matchups are the 8/9 and 7/10 games, as upsets are possible in both.

But the quarterfinal round should provide plenty of intrigue, as a meeting between last year's champ (Sachem East) and the No. 1 team in our poll (Connetquot) is likely. As are games between Northport and North Babylon, and Ward Melville and Commack (four ultra-talented teams that could each make a run at the title).

In Class A, No. 9 Mount Sinai will visit No. 8 Rocky Point in an outbracket match tomorrow afternoon. The winner will travel to top-seeded Islip at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

Here are the rest of the Class A matchups (which will all be played at 3 p.m. on Tuesday):

-No. 5 Shoreham-Wading River at No. 4 Glenn
-No. 6 Bayport-Blue Point at No. 3 Harborfields
-No. 7 Hauppauge at No. 2 Sayville

The Class B semifinals (only four teams make the playoffs) are next Thursday at 3 p.m. Top-seeded Center Moriches plays host to No. 4 Southold/Greenport, while No. 3 Babylon visits No. 2 Mattituck. The winners will play in next Saturday's final at the Dowling Sports Complex at 2 p.m.

Following the Class B final will be the Class C final at 4:30 p.m. between No. 1 Stony Brook and No. 2 Pierson/Bridgehampton.

Smithtown Christian is the Suffolk Class D representative, and will play the Section IX champion at 6 p.m. on 11/4 at the Dowling Sports Complex.

Now, as promised, some love for the small schools:

Center Moriches completed an unbeaten league slate with a 3-0 win over Smithtown Christian yesterday afternoon. Danielle Sweeney notched two goals, while Kayla Brantmeyer chipped in two assists.

Those two girls, along with Jessica Bandrowski, give the Red Devils three potent scorers — a combination that is very hard to stop come playoff time.

Center Moriches has also been getting it done in the back row, as the defense has allowed just nine goals in 15 games.

And as far as the playoff competition, Mattituck (which went 6-4-2 in League VII) could provide a competitive final behind Amber and Demi Mello. But that's if the Tuckers can get past Babylon, who they went 0-1-1 against during the regular season (for comparison's sake, Center Moriches beat Babylon, 4-0, in the teams' only meeting).

And though we won't see them for another 11 days until their regional final, the girls from Smithtown Christian deserve recognition for not only hanging around in a league in which it is the smallest school (its 151 students rank as the third smallest enrollment in Suffolk ahead of Bridgehampton, 40, and Shelter Island, 67), but it nearly outpaced Center Moriches (a school more than double its size with 349 students) for the league title.

The upstate competition in Class D is strong, but Chelsea Bellini, Christina Casamassina and company are a good bet to advance to the state tournament.

*All population numbers are according to the NYSPHSAA website.

Okay, that's all for now. Playoff soccer abound! See ya'll on the pitch!