Dominick Gulino scores late goal to help Plainedge boys soccer rally past North Shore
Plainedge’s Dominick Gulino, middle, celebrates with his teammates after scoring the winning goal against North Shore during a Nassau Conference A soccer game in Glen Head on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. Credit: Brittney Dietz
Plainedge was down a goal after some subpar play in the first half. And so Jason Cinelli gathered his team at one end of the North Shore turf and breathed some fire into the Red Devils — part loud, blunt critique, part uplifting pep talk.
“We made a lot of mental mistakes,” said Cinelli, now in his 21st season as Plainedge’s boys soccer coach. “At this point in the year, we shouldn’t be making those mistakes. I was really upset with them. I was a little fiery with them, but I think I got my point across.
“And I think we came out in the second half ready to go.”
They sure did. The Red Devils had Wednesday’s game tied in just over five minutes. And then Dominick Gulino headed the ball in with nine seconds left for an exhilarating 3-2 victory over the Vikings.
“This brings everyone up,” Gulino said. “It fuels everyone to be better and more into the game and to win more games.”
This was a large win for a team that’s 3-1-3 overall and 3-1-1 in Nassau A. Plainedge didn’t have a postseason last year.
“We didn’t know where we were going to be this year,” Cinelli said. “… It was unclear how strong (we would be). We’re very young. But it’s a great step for making the playoffs.”
Freshman Patrick Svraka scored the tying goal. Then the winning play started with Ryan Hanwacker and moved on to Aden McNee, who crossed the ball to Gulino.
“Right place, right time,” Gulino said. “The defender missed it. I just read it and just saw the keeper coming out, so I hit it up. Went right over.”
It marked the sophomore striker/center midfielder’s fourth goal after scoring five as a freshman.
“Everybody just like feeds off of him,” Cinelli said of the young captain.
Emil Samuels pounced on a loose ball in the box after a miscommunication by Plainedge and gave North Shore (2-2-2, 2-2-2) a 1-0 lead. The junior forward doubled it less than five minutes later, giving him seven goals already.
But Conor Sinclair, playing a fiery game, cut it to 2-1 with 2:28 left in the half.
“It’s my senior year,” the winger said. “I want to win.”
Then came Cinelli’s motivational address.
“He always brings us up, kind of kicks us in the butt a little bit,” Sinclair said. “But we always come back stronger in the second half.”
