Girls Soccer Hands Deer Park Their First Loss, 1-0

The Hauppauge girls varsity soccer team beat Deer Park, 1-0, in a tense nail biter Wednesday afternoon to move into first place in League IV.

Midfielder Stephanie Peragallo launched a rocket from more than 20 yards out in the seventh minute of the game to give Hauppauge the lead, 1-0.

"She just got free for a second, and she let it rip," said Hauppauge's head coach Jesseca Kulesa.

Peragallo has been the Lady Eagles' leading scorer for the last three years, and has already scored five goals for the team this season.

Deer Park quickly turned on the offense, turning the game into an intense match as they maintained control of the ball, taking multiple shots on Haupauge's net in the second half. Hauppauge keeper Diana Poulin made 10 saves.

"We didn't play our best day, but we played touch enough to pull it out in the end," Kulesa said.

The win was enough to put Hauppauge into first place in League IV with seven games left in the season. Many of the remaining games are rematches with teams the Lady Eagles have already beat.

Kulesa said that moving forward the team will have to work on their defense if the girls want to stay in first. The team's difficulty in the back field was notable when the team had a hard time clearing their half of the field in the second half Wednesday.

"We a lot of the experience that we have, we also have that much inexperience," Kulesa said.

The coach explained that she started three first-time varsity players as the defensive line for Wednesday's game, who showed their inexperience during the tension-filled second half. She hopes that by the time the Lady Eagles play Deer Park again Oct. 24, there will be an improvement.