Mistakes Pile Up in Pierson Boys Soccer’s Defeat to Port Jeff

There’s work to be done.

That was the takeaway after the Pierson boys soccer team lost, 4-0, to Port Jefferson on its home field at Mashashimuet Park in Sag Harbor on Thursday, September 11. The much improved Royals scored all four of their goals in the first half of the game, with the Whalers quickly improving their game in the second half — much to the satisfaction of head coach Haley Luzim.

Port Jeff poured the pressure on the attacking third the first 20 minutes or so of the game. Pierson had a hard time clearing the ball out of its backfield and allowed a handful of consecutive corner kicks, and finally, on the fifth one, the Royals broke through to open the scoring. They added another with just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half to take a 2-0 lead.

An inadvertent hand ball in the box by the Whalers awarded a penalty shot to Port Jeff. Pierson junior goalkeeper Esteban Montanez initially stopped the shot, but the ball came out as play continued. A shot rang off the post and back out in front where the Royals corralled the ball and got a clean shot into the back of the net to take a 3-0 lead.

The fourth goal of the game came in the final minute of the first half. Pierson had a throw-in deep in its defensive third and inexplicably threw the ball into its own box, where a misplay led to a rather easy goal for the Royals.

It was a bit of a surprising lopsided loss for Pierson, which was coming off a competitive 2-0 loss in its season opener at Southold two days prior on September 9, a game that was scoreless at halftime.

“First half we were having a hard time covering defensively,” Luzim said of her team’s loss to Port Jeff. “They were attacking the midfield full on and we were having a hard time staying with our man.

“So we’re definitely going to be working on running through the ball, winning 50/50s and our first touch, so we’re not touching it to have five corner kicks in a row,” she added. “I did not expect them to be that good. One thing that they did was that they won every ball and you can’t compete in soccer if you don’t win the ball. Something we’ll definitely be working on in practice tomorrow.”

Though they had a few scoring opportunities in the second half, and certainly pushed the action a bit more than it did in the first, the Whalers took its time to develop plays, while also lacking a certain sense of urgency on loose balls in the air and the like.

It was all common mistakes that a young team like Pierson can work on and improve upon as the season wears on, and Luzim said that’s exactly what they’re going to do.

“We’ve been in a lull here in Sag Harbor for a couple years and we’re trying to build it back up,” she said. “We have some strong upperclassmen, but not enough. We have actually some very strong underclassmen, so I think moving forward we’re going to get better and better, even this season.”

“Improve every day, that’s what the goal is,” Luzim added. “I think we have a lot of potential. The boys are working hard.”

Pierson played at Mattituck on Monday and was scheduled to host Greenport at the park on Thursday, September 18, at 4:30 p.m. before playing Riverhead Charter at the Medford Athletic Complex on Horseblock Road on Saturday at 10 a.m.