Carey holds on against Long Beach in prep for boys soccer playoffs
Mason Melecio of Carey controls the ball near the Long Beach goal during a Nassau Conference AA-I boys soccer match on Oct. 13, 2026. Credit: Derrick Dingle
Carey had already secured its invitation to the Nassau AA boys soccer tournament. Long Beach, on the other hand, was carrying a lot more weight around its home turf for the regular-season finale. The Marines needed to win to ensure getting in.
The Seahawks got two second-half goals from Mason Melecio to construct a three-goal lead with 11:39 left. Then Dominic Mendoza scored twice for Long Beach.
Tuesday’s tension rose.
But Carey held on for a 4-3 victory, ending the Marines’ season.
So the Seahawks will ride into the AA postseason with a 7-4-2 record and the positive vibes from a winning streak.
“From Carey’s perspective, I think it’s wide open,” coach Matt Princi said. “I think it’s there for the taking.
“You need to be healthy going into the playoffs. So we were able to rest our guys who needed to rest today. And you need to have momentum going into the playoffs. You need to be hot at the right time. And we just won four games in a row now.”
This is a program that has never won a county title. But hope is indeed running high after Carey went 7-3-2 in Nassau AA-I play.
“There’s no super team,” Melecio said. “Garden City, we lost 3-2 to them. I think . . . this could be our year.”
Long Beach was left to wonder what might have been with a win. A tie would’ve left its fate to tiebreakers with two other teams.
“The pressure was basically on us,” coach Leo Palacio said.
The Marines finished 5-5-3 overall and 4-5-3 in the conference.
“It’s a shame not to see this team go into the playoffs because we play some great ball,” Palacio said. “We had the toughest conference in New York State this year. We were battle-tested this year . . . If we took that one more step to the playoffs, we were going to upset somebody.”
Melecio built on a 2-1 halftime edge, heading in a long free kick into the box by Daniel Cruz.
Then Melecio tapped in a cross from Evan Cardoso 3:10 later, giving the junior striker 11 goals, five more than last year.
“My club team, East Coast, they just helped me grow and be a better player,” Melecio said.
Mendoza scored with 8:54 left and again with 5:20 left. But Carey could exhale at the end.
As Princi said, “That was a good prep for the playoffs.”
