Carle Place wins Long Island Class B title after freshman Julianna Lugris' late goal
Daniella Correia of Carle Place, left, celebrates after Julianna Lugris, right, scored the game-winning goal during the Long Island Class B girls soccer championship against Babylon at Farmingdale State on Monday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
In the final five minutes of the Long Island Class B girls soccer championship, the score was knotted at one. Babylon was fighting to repeat its title, but Carle Place was fighting to make history.
Freshman Julianna Lugris scored on a rebound off the goalkeeper in the 75th minute to lead the Frogs over Babylon, 2-1, and earn the program’s first Long Island Class B title on Monday at Farmingdale State.
“In the beginning I was really nervous because I had missed my first two shots, but I know you can never give up,” Lugris said. “I knew I had to keep shooting so I just tried again and it finally came and I’m so happy it did.”
Carle Place (11-5-1) will next face the winner of Section IX/Section I in the state regional final at 4 p.m. Sunday. Babylon finished 12-3-2.
The Frogs set the pace and dominated possession in the first half, and it wasn’t long before they found the back of the net. In the eighth minute, Alexia Mehalakes controlled a cross pass on the left side of the box and sent a dart to the right side of the goal.
In the second half, Babylon found its equalizer. On a free kick from midfield, Julia Wider found space to score in the 48th minute. The Frogs almost immediately regained control of the momentum and continued to pressure for the remainder of the half before Lugris scored the eventual winner.
Second-half goalkeeper Brooke Holsgrove made six saves to keep Babylon from taking the lead. Starter Emma Barros made five saves.
“I’m so proud of my team," Holsgrove said. "We’ve worked so hard for this. In the beginning, all we wanted to do was win counties. I’m just so proud that we could make it this far and actually pull this off.”
The Frogs last won the Nassau Class B championship in 2019. After falling to Cold Spring Harbor in the final for the past two seasons, coach Steve Cadet said winning the county championship — and now reaching the top of Long Island — has been a goal three years in the making.
“We’ve always been right there and, now that we got over the hump, the sky is really the limit,” Cadet said. “We’ve never been here before, we don’t know how far we can go, so who’s to say it can’t be us? We’ll take it one day at a time, one game at a time, but we have to believe. Why not us?”
Tess Ferguson is a reporter on Newsday's high school sports staff. She joined the team after graduating with a journalism degree from Ithaca College in 2025.
