Senior striker Charlie Theofield scored again, again and again Tuesday, to help propel the Northport boys’ soccer team to a 4-2 win over Copiague.
“Everyone was working hard and we played well,” he said following the win. “The first goal came after my goalie Kiernan Kirby kicked it up, and I wasn’t expecting it at first, but it went in, and the other two came naturally — I was in the right place in the right time, like I should be.”
Theofield got the Tigers on the scoreboard first when he chipped a shot in, over the Copiague goalkeeper’s head, as he came out the box to try to make a save, for the early 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the matchup.
Fewer than 10 minutes later, Theofield did it again, with the same shot straight up the middle and over the goalkeeper’s head, to give his team a 2-0 advantage.
“We pressed up a lot,” Theofield said. “Even thought we know we clinched playoffs, we should still be playing for first, and we’ve got to keep our offense up.”
With 25 seconds left in the first half, sophomore midfielder Joseph Malico gained possession of the ball with a defender on his hip and sent his shot to the center of the net for a 3-0 lead heading into the halftime break.
“I thought we played really hard all game long,” Northport head coach Don Strasser said. “I though Copiague played really strong — they never gave up and they battled, but putting away a couple of goals early on in the first half helps the team.”
Less than three minutes into the second half, Copiague put its first point on the board, with a shot into the far left corner.
After a long scoring drought, and a save by senior goalkeeper Ahmad Timsah to keep the score unchanged, Theofield scored his hat trick goal.
With 4:25 left, the Copiague goalkeeper came out of the net to make a save, and punched the ball away amid a flurry of opponents. He pushed the ball straight toward the feet of Theofield, who seized his opportunity and knocked it in past the diving keeper for a 4-1 lead.
With 45 seconds left on the clock, Copiague scored its second goal of the game, to bring the final score to 4-2.
“We sort of died out at the end, but most of the game we were taking it to them, and that’s what we need to do for the rest of the season,” Theofield said. “We’re going to playoffs, and we’re hoping to take it to states.”
The team moves to 8-3 in League II with the win, has only let an opponent score three goals once, and has only given up two goals twice this season.
Despite losing two players in senior midfielder Dimitri Mendrinos and junior defender Ryan Pedersen, the team continues to rack up the wins.
“Every game is really a battle, so we just always have to play our best game,” Strasser said. “Since Dimitri’s injury, we are 2-1, and this is the first game without Ryan, so the first half we were 5-2, and the second half, right now, we’re 3-1, so all is good so far. At any given day, some team can beat you, so you just have to be on task and play hard from whistle to whistle; so we have to continue to play well.”