Blue Devil JV Girls’ Soccer Plays Hard on the Road

Despite the lack of a home field for games for most of the season, the Huntington High School junior varsity girls’ soccer team still kept its spirits high and played hard to the final whistle of every contest.

The 20 player team was coached by high school physical education teacher Maria Canino. “This was a great team,” Canino said. “They dealt with a lot of things that were out of their control this year and handled it all so well. I’m really proud of their heart and dedication to the team.”

The Blue Devils were led by sophomore goalie Wynne Franciscovich, sophomore defenders Cecilena Monge Moreira and Giselle Salmeron and sophomore Erika Hernandez Veliz, who led the team in goals.

“Wynne had an incredible season this year,” Canino said. “She really kept us in games and helped lead the team through her hard work, dedication and natural leadership skills. Wynne really broke out this year having some big saves along with the routine ones as well. Ceci and GG were out lead defenders. They really controlled the back of the field for us and were always able to give their teammates the support they needed. Erika is another player that really grew this year. She was our top goal scorer and her game overall improved tremendously from last year. She really shined.”

Completion of Huntington’s second turf was expected by late August, but instead it was unavailable until early October. That forced many home games to move to away sites.

“I think our biggest team accomplishment was our win over Westhampton this year,” Canino said. “This team only had two home games all season with 12 away games. The girls were incredible with handling a long travel season so I look at this game as our biggest accomplishment because it involved a long bus ride, a good team and our girls really came together that night, worked as a team and won. It was a great game out of them.”

The roster included seven freshmen and 13 sophomores.