By John Dielman
The Commack Cougars were no match for the Patriots at Ward Melville High School’s homecoming Oct. 19. The home team did not disappoint, delivering a 35-14 win on the big day.
The win topped off the homecoming carnival, and during the game, both the junior varsity and varsity cheerleaders performed as well as the school’s band.
The Patriots now are at 4-2 in Division I, while Commack is 3-3. The Ward Melville football team will travel to Sachem East Oct. 25. Game time is 6 p.m.
NEVER FORGET
John Dielman snapped this solemn photo of Ward Melville High School on Old Town Road in East Setauket at sunset on September 11. “Ward Melville honors 9/11 every year with American flags as a school tradition,” writes Dielman, who graduated from the school in 2015.
Send your Photo of the Week to leisure@tbrnewspapers.com
Ward Melville High School’s class of 2018 had a storybook ending to their days in the Three Village Central School District June 21.
This year the prom theme was Once Upon a Time. As the students entered the school, they found the building was decorated like scenes from various fairytales including Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.
Students arrived at the prom in classic and luxury model cars. Three Village Kids Lemonade Stand founder Maddie Mastriano pulled up in a horse and carriage with trumpeters playing.
Parents and friends waited on bleachers since the morning to see the students stroll down the red carpet before the big event, which was livestreamed and posted to YouTube.
Ward Melville’s soccer team has an advantage most teams don’t: the connection between twin sisters Kerri and Nicole Liucci.
On their senior night, in a 3-0 win over William Floyd Oct. 16, the two scored a goal apiece, and assisted on each other’s tallies to help the Patriots (10-3-2, 9-2-2 League I) power through.
“We have twin telepathy,” Kerri Liucci said. “We work hard together.”
Nicole Liucci was first to find the back of the net after her twin received a pass from the corner, and moved the ball front and center in the box. With a mid-air knock-in, the Liucci sisters made it an early 1-0 advantage.
“We have a really strong bond and we know where each other is at all times,” Nicole Liucci said. “I kept saying to myself, ‘I need to get the ball in the net.’ My sister passed it to me and I kicked it right in.”
More than 25 minutes passed before the Patriots propelled the ball into the net a second time. On a strike from 30 yards out, midfielder Arianna Barbieri found the far left corner, which was a surprise even to her.
“I decided to just wing it,” she said. “Watching it sail over and into the net felt really good. We were pushing the ball as hard as we could trying to score early and shut them down.”
Ward Melville’s defense held down the Colonials in the second half, despite losing returning All-County defender Kayla Winicki to a torn ACL in the first game of the season against Northport. Liv Halvorsen has stepped up to fill her place on the back line, knocking away chances and battling for crucial possession, which she’ll need to continue if Ward Melville wants to win a League I title.
“We had some girls step in and take over and they’ve been great and adjusted well,” Ward Melville head coach John Diehl said. “We’re gelling now and coming together in different ways.”
Kerri Liucci put the game out of reach with 12 minutes left when she sent the ball into the corner from close range. She had a chance at a goal seconds earlier, when she pushed the ball past a fallen William Floyd goalkeeper, but a defender batted it away. She said she was overjoyed to finally get on the stat sheet.
“I really wanted to score on senior night,” she said. “I tried, put all my effort behind the ball and it went in, and it felt amazing because I was working hard the whole game to get a goal. It was rewarding.”
The three seniors that scored on Ward Melville’s senior night are the three longest tenured members of the team.
“The girls get so excited for this day,” Diehl said of his 14 upperclassmen. “Their energy is high, their spirits are high and they ended up doing well. They’ve endured a lot and they’re a nice group of seniors. I love seeing them happy — it makes me smile.”
After what could potentially have been the last home game for Ward Melville this season, the Patriots soaked it in as the bench cleared in celebration of a successful shutout. Ward Melville travels to Brentwood for the final game of the regular season Oct. 18. If the Patriots come away with a win, they’ll also grab a piece of the League I title for the first time in years.
“Brentwood is always a strong team,” Diehl said. “It’s always tough against Brentwood at their house, too, because they play on grass and we’re not used to that surface, but heading into this last week I like where we are.”
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