Mepham boys soccer had never even made a county final. On August 23rd, in the middle of preseason, Kieran Gilroy made a bold claim, changing the name of the team GroupMe to “County Champs Banter GC.” The team had confidence that they could go all the way while the everyone else ruled them out. It was time to prove them wrong.

The season started with an away game at Calhoun. After going up 1-0 with a headed goal from Captain Chris Cossu, Calhoun recovered by scoring twice to win the game 2-1. Since that game, Mepham did not lose (until Long Island Championship) with an away tie versus Herricks, the only blemish to their record.

The team, coached by Zachary Gosse and Anthony Costabile, was composed of thirteen seniors and six juniors, with one sophomore who was called up from JV for playoffs. Last year’s team made it to the second round of playoffs as the 20 seed, only to lose to Lawrence. This year, the team’s excellent record resulted in them winning their Conference, over Herricks and Calhoun, and receiving the third seed. They were aided tremendously by the performance of captains Ziyad Gawish, Chris Cossu, Kieran Gilroy, and Andrew Weiner. Andrew Weiner had a very impressive year, finishing with 19 goals to lead the county while Cossu recorded 11 assists. Kieran Gilroy also stepped up and controlled the midfield, winning virtually every 50/50 ball with his aggression in the air. Harry Davila and Corey Lichtman helped solidify the midfield, covering a lot of territory on defense and helping start attacks. Ziyad Gawish and Chris Cossu led a stellar a defense, completed by Jon Gaufman and Brian Willis and anchored by goalkeeper Louis Luparello. Connor Buehler, Gaetano Parisi, and Matt Bauer added additional threats to the attack along with Weiner.

The point in the season when belief began to pour into the team was the rematch against Calhoun. The conclusive 5-1 victory showed that this team meant business. When they played Herricks in the Senior game, both teams were tied for first in the conference. That was until Mepham put four past Herricks and kept a solid clean sheet.

In the playoffs, the defense came up big, keeping four clean sheets all the way through the finals, in some games not even allowing a shot on target. They defeated Manhasset, Jericho, and Southside to reach the final where they would play Garden City.

The semi-final, played on a Friday night at SUNY Farmingdale, had huge excitement around it. A pre-game “dance-off” in the locker room set the mood, and the large crowd brought a great atmosphere to the game. Three minutes into the game, Weiner scored on a breakaway from a superb through ball and build up from Connor Buehler. The rest of the game was dedicated to protecting that lead. Luparello was forced into one magnificent save and the defense shut down most other attacks with Brian Willis locking down one of Southside’s main threats.

The team was then left to play last year’s Long Island champs, Garden City, in a game which could cement and reward the progress the team has made in the past three years under Coach Gosse. Played on Halloween, the game drew in a great crowd. Once again the game started quickly with a goal inside the first ten minutes from Andrew Weiner, his 22nd of the season, created by a great run from Connor Buehler. While Garden City possessed the ball for a majority of the remainder of the game, Mepham stayed composed allowing very few clear chances for the Trojans. 70 minutes of hard work, representing the effort put in all season, paid off when the final whistle blew. Mepham Soccer could now say, they had won a County Championship.

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Ethan Silver