Glen Cove boys soccer stays unbeaten behind Hector Santiago's two goals
Hector Santiago of Glen Cove scored twice Monday to give him five goals on the young season. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Glen Cove was rebuilding last season and still managed to claim two postseason games before making a quarterfinal exit in Nassau AA. So it figured the Big Red could be big trouble for teams on these area soccer fields this time around.
“We anticipated that we were going to be very competitive,” coach Brian Smith said. “Absolutely.”
Their work was looking good again on Labor Day at Jericho. The Big Red received two goals from junior left wing/striker Hector Santiago and a goal and an assist from senior midfielder Bryan Guerra in Monday’s 3-0 non-league win.
Four matches, four victories.
“I think we just started off well since the summer practices,” Santiago said. “We feel like we can go all the way.”
Santiago has five goals already and Guerra owns four. The Big Red have outscored the other guys 18-0, making their confidence grow.
“I feel like we’re connected,” Guerra said.
Guerra gave them a 1-0 edge with 17:58 left in the first half. He had a free kick from 21 yards out, and he took it fast. The Jayhawks weren’t ready.
“Just quick thinking,” Guerra said. “I saw the opportunity to shoot, so I just took it and I scored.”
In the second half, Guerra sent a through ball to Santiago, and he scored with 23:01 left.
“Just always looking to make runs,” Santiago said. “Always trusting my teammates that they can find me.”
Only 2:14 later, he scored again after Kosta Tsirkas found him.
“The opportunities that we had in the attacking zone came off of the unselfish play in the midfield and the smart work in space in the defensive zone as well,” Smith said.
David Bernal didn’t have to make any saves in the first half. Mayson Davlatshoev finished off the clean sheet with three after the intermission.
“Can we contend? Yeah,” Smith said. “We’re going into the season with the idea that we’re going to be contending against all the top programs in the county.”
Jericho, which was missing four starters, is now 0-4 and has been outscored 9-1.Freshman goalie Parsa Tehrani made 10 saves.
“We’ve played some good opponents,” coach Mark Giardino said. “I think we’ve had a hard time finding our way thus far.”
They began 0-4-1 in 2025 before finishing 5-8-3.
“It feels all too familiar,” Giardino said. “Fortunately, we have very good character, and I anticipate improvement.”
