Northport girls soccer rallies to beat West Islip for the Suffolk Class AA championship
Ava DeMarco of Northport shoots and scores a goal in the second half of the Suffolk Class AA girls soccer final against West Islip on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026. Credit: James Escher
Northport found itself down a goal at halftime against an unbeaten West Islip team that hadn’t allowed more than a goal in a game this season.
Northport then flipped the switch.
The Tigers scored three second-half goals as No. 2 Northport defeated No. 1 West Islip, 3-1, to win the Suffolk Class AA girls soccer championship at West Islip High School on Saturday afternoon.
“We were down 1-0 in our semifinal game, and we said, ‘We’ve been here before, and we can do it again. We can turn this game around,’” senior Finnley Wickard said.
Jenna Obloj scored on a free kick with 1:32 left in the first half to give West Islip the lead. Northport then responded quickly. Avery McArdle launched a free kick, and Wickard scored to tie the game four minutes into the second half.
“I trust Avery. She has a great free kick, and we’ve been practicing this all week,” Wickard said. “We haven’t scored on a free kick all year, and we finally did it on a day that really matters.”
West Islip had an opportunity to break the tie, but it turned into a game-changing sequence for the Tigers.
Off a corner kick, Wickard blocked a shot. Brooke Heffernan then passed the ball to Ava DeMarco, who fell to a knee but kept the ball, sped toward the goal and scored midway through the second half.
“It wasn’t just me in that play. It wasn’t just the three people who touched the ball. It’s the entire team,” Wickard said. “It’s the players who play against us in practice preparing us for this moment. The energy was so good today, and that’s ultimately why we were so successful.”
Just two and a half minutes later, DeMarco found Phoebe Powers for another goal, Northport’s third in 19 minutes.
“We had a great first half, came out strong,” West Islip coach Ed Jablonski said. “We had a couple of breakdowns in the second half . . . You make a miscue, it’s gonna end up in the back of the net, and that’s what happened to us today.”
Northport (16-2) held on to claim their second straight county title, this time a Class AA crown after winning in Class AAA last season.
Their next step, however, will bypass the Long Island championship.
Both teams' seasons will continue.
Section XI has an at-large bid in this year’s Class AA state tournament. Under a new section policy, the county champion chooses between two postseason routes: play in the Long Island championship, then advance to a regional final if it wins, or directly go to a regional final against the winner of Section IV. The county runner-up receives the other route, according to Section XI girls soccer coordinator Dave Barth.
Northport had 24 hours to submit its decision to Section XI executive director Tom Combs. The Tigers have chosen the Binghamton route and will play a regional final on Nov. 7 at Chenango Valley High School against the Section IV winner.
“We’re going to go up to Section IV so that we can have a little bit more of a break,” Northport coach Aija Gipp said. “Because if we chose the other route, we would have an extra game. We’d only have two days’ rest, and we’d have to play Tuesday and then again Saturday.”
The decision sends West Islip (17-1) to face Nassau champion Garden City in the Long Island Class AA championship at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Farmingdale State.
