FLASHBACK: Relive past Mattituck boys soccer championships
Sunday’s state championship came 11 years to the day since the Mattituck boys soccer team last won a state title.
That victory came 21 years after the Tuckers first won a state championship in 1982.
In honor of Mattituck’s state championship hat trick we present the stories the team’s two previous title games.
Click on the dates or the page links below to read our prior coverage.
Tears of Joy: Mattituck wins first title since 1982
Published Nov. 20, 2003
Written by Bob Liepa
ONEONTA — Endings are often accompanied by tears, and this ending was no different.
After the final minute of the New York State Class C boys soccer final was announced, Mattituck tuckers coach Mat Litchhult found himself choked with emotion. Tears of joy mixed with tears of sadness.
“I couldn’t hold it back,” Litchhult said after watching his team play together for the last time. “I just couldn’t fight back the tears, because these guys mean so much to me. These guys will always have a place in my heart.”
Not to mention a lofty place in Mattituck’s proud soccer history.
For the first time, the Tuckers gained sole possession of a state championship Sunday afternoon when they finished off the Manlius Pebble Hill Trojans, 2-0. The exultant Tuckers piled on top of each other and their fans after time expired at the National Soccer Hall of Fame’s Bettiol Field.
“It’s unbelievable,” Tuckers midfielder Andrew Huey said amid the celebratory scene. “Unbelievable.”
Tuckers defender Kyle Steele said, “This is a memory we’re going to have for the rest of our lives.”
The Tuckers will remember the way they capped off a 22-1 season with their first state title since 1982, when they shared the crown with the Holland Central Dutchmen. They will remember the way they quickly recovered from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Holland in Saturday’s semifinal, 3-1. They will remember the way they pretty much had their way with Manlius (21-1-1) int he final. They will remember the way they received a boost in the form of first-half goals by senior forwards Ned Baker and Marty Tarpey. They will remember the way midfielder Brett Moyer and his friends kept close tabs on Manlius’ best player, Brandon Oot, keeping him off the scoresheet. And they will remember the way their defense, once again, was rocksteady, posting its 15th shutout.
All in all, it was an impressive display, “Some of the soccer out there was great to watch,” said Litchhult, a former Mattituck player, who’s in his second year as varsity coach.
Before the Tuckers got off their team bus for Sunday’s game, Litchhult told the players, “There’s only one way to go out, go out with a win.”
They listened.
With all of the experience and talent The Tuckers had available, Baker, who hadn’t played school soccer in two years, was the one who broke the ice Sunday with his second goal in as many days and third of the year. He nodded in a cross from Matt Wilsberg 10 minutes, 32 seconds into the match.
“That’s what coach said, “Jump on them early, and they’ll collapse,” said Huey.
The Tuckers were aided by the return of Huey, who had to sit out the final because of a red-card suspension. But Huey certainly made his presence felt early. It was his thrown-in that led to Tarpey’s insurance goal at 16:03. Huey’s throw-in skipped off the top of a defender’s head, toward the goal, where Tarpey made the most of the half-chance, delivering a lethal right-footed shot for his team-leading 19th goal of the year.
The best scoring opportunity for the Trojans came shortly before halftime when the Tuckers scrambled to clear Anthony Venezia’s dangerous drive into the slick, muddy goalmouth, where players from both sides lost their footing.
For the most part, though, it was clear sailing for the Tuckers, whose goalkeeper, Jordan Viola, needed to make only two saves. Moyer, who was named the most valuable player of the final, did a good job marking OOt. Oot, who has scored over 40 goals this year and is in the U.S. under-17 national player pool, took five of his team’s seven shots, but was held goalless.
“The better team won today,” said Trojans coach Dan Ridall, whose team is in its first year as a Class C team after having won Clas D titles in 2000 and 2001. “They’re the best teams we’ve seen all year.”
Quite possibly, it’s the best Mattituck team ever, although the Tuckers are quick to point out that it’s difficult to compare teams from different eras. Still, this was a team that had high expectations.
“They lived up to them,” said Litchhult, whose team received an award at the final hour for exemplary sportsmanship. “These guys are a tremendous bunch. Their work rate, they’re just relentless. They’re never satisfied. Just getting here wasn’t satisfying enough.”
Both the Mattituck boys and girls soccer teams were sent off on the upstate trips with a parade and bonfire last Wednesday night. (The girls team took second in the state Class C tournament.) They were welcomed home in style, too, at Mattituck High School by fans who waited to greet them Sunday night. “It seemed like just about everybody in the town was there,” Litchhult said.
For Mattituck’s 13 seniors, nine of whom were regular starters, the state title marks the end of their high school careers. “It was just amazing,” Steele said, “the best experience of my life.”
All of those players — and their coaches — are bound together by their connection to this state championship.
“I’ll never forget them,” Litchhult said. “They’ll never forget each other.”
Mattituck wins Class C Co-Championship
Published Nov. 25, 1982
Written by Janet Garrell
HEMPSTEAD — Mattituck soccer forward Keith Locklear has socred only twice this year, but his second goal, on Saturday, might justifiably be called the Tuckers’ most important shot of the season. It turned his team’s one-goal deficit to Holland Central in the finals of the state Class C soccer championships to a 1-1 tie, a score that held through two 10-minute overtime periods and provided the North Fork team with a share in the state title. (Mattituck came into the game with a 17-3-2 record, while Holland, from Erie County, was 16-2).
Locklear’s timely tally, which came with less than 18 minutes of playing time remaining in the game, played on the artificial turf at Hofstra University Stadium in Hempstead, was a case of opportunity coming at the right time. “The ball bounced off a Holland player,” said Locklear. “I just saw my chance.”
Although it was only his second goal, he declared. “I was waiting for it!”
His teammates were waiting for it as well. After Jobie Ramsey’s direct kick — a powerful, perfectly played shot that sailed over the Mattituck wall of players and past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Tom Beebe — had put Holland ahead midway through the first period, Tucker offense had been frustrated for 40 minutes.
“We were using all our options,” admitted Mattituck coach Craig Osmer. “It was a fairly evenly matched game. I thought our skills were slightly better than theirs, but they were fast — no doubt about it. They’re a good soccer team obviously. If they make the finals, they have to be.”
Much of the weight of the game lay on defense, a fact reflected in the choice of most valuable players in the contest. Honors went to Mattituck fullback Jay Burkhardt and Holland goalkeeper Mark Jauqyet. Burkhardt roved all over the backfield, breaking up Holland’s long passes and protecting Beebe, who had nine saves for the game.
Holland defense, which featured a trap with speedy fullbacks Kip Palmateer and Matt Kramer playing up plus halfback Jim Buckley stopping attacks at midfield, denied Mattituck a direct route to the goal. However, a detour out to the wings worked, especially in the second half, when Mattituck came out strong and managed to control the ball in Holland’s half of the field much of the time.
Wing Peter Sabat turned on the speed and was able to create opportunities for himself and for center forward Steve Mylett, looking for his 22nd goal of the season. That he failed to score was a credit to the skills of Jauqyet, who included several outstanding stops of Mylett’s nine shots on goal among his 19 saves. One, the potential game-winner, came four minutes after Locklear’s goal, when Jauqyet lunged and deflected the Mattituck striker’s shot off his left foot. Earlier, he had stopped a seemingly sure goal by deflecting the ball off his fingertips and over the crossbar.
The first 10-minute overtime belonged to Mattituck, which spearheaded its attack with the Sabat-Mylett combination and with halfback Sam Strickland working the ball through the midfield area and providing a threat with long shots, as he had earlier in the game.
Holland, desperate to score, turned aggressive in the final overtime. The physical nature of the game, apparent in the 32 fouls posed against Holland (and 15 against Mattituck), became stronger in the final minutes of the first overtime and in second overtime. Mylett, who had been shaken up in one spill during regulation time, was dumped so badly during a move on the goal in the final overtime that he had to be benched.
Despite the fouls, Holland came close to producing a game-winner as the clock ran down: once, in the first minute, on a shot by Greg Schurr (the team’s leading scorer with 31 goals) that just missed to the left while Beebe lay helpless on the ground after a dive. In the final minute Beebe made another dive, on a shot by Ramsey, and then saw a kick just clear the crossbar.
There are no winners in a tied game, and the disappointment on the faces of the players from both teams at the conclusion of Saturday’s contest was apparent. “A lot of us didn’t know about the (possibility of a) tie,” said Locklear right after the game. “We would rather play a sudden-death overtime.”
A tie is a little disappointing,” said Osmer, “but still, I’m grateful we didn’t lose. I guess you could call it a gratifying disappointment.”
After a certain amount of reflection, his team agreed. “Co-champion is okay,” said Locklear, an opinion echoed by teammate Carl Langhorne, who said, “We’re the better team and should have won, but we’ll take a tie over a loss.”
Saturday’s state co-championship was not the first for the Osmer family. Craig’s father Dick directed the Southold soccer team to a state Class C co-championship in 1979 and then followed it with a Class D championship on 1980.