Riverhead’s season ended yesterday in Smithtown with a 10-7 in the Suffolk A quarterfinals.
Riverhead came to play against no. 2 seed Smithtown West. They also had the backing of the Riverhead faithful — cow bells and all, which gave the game a “home game” feeling.
Riverhead busted out first, on a sweet goal by Dalton Lucas, to make it 1-0, prompting Riverhead fans to ring the cow bells, and sound an air horn after the goal. Smithtown West countered with two quick goals, followed by West’s air horn. Riverhead came right back with another Dalton Lucas goal, again prompting Riverhead’s air horn.
But the Smithtown West coach let the referees know that he wasn’t happy with the Riverhead air horn. The ref halted the game, went over to the sideline and spoke to the Riverhead coach, who then had to walk over to the visitors bleachers and ask the crowd not to use the air horn. This upset the Riverhead faithful, who asked why Smithtown West could sound theirs, but not them. The game finally got back underway, but it was all downhill from there for Riverhead. Blue Waves fans peppered the refs with a “why no air horn” chant and the penalty calls ramped up twofold against Riverhead, taking away Riverhead’s momentum.
The game went into the half with Smithtown West leading 4-3. The second half was no better. The Riverhead AD asked the parents to remain calm, but it was to no avail. The game was again stopped by a referee after he said he heard a personal comment against him and wanted the fan removed from the stands. By this time, its was 9-5 Smithtown West, when Riverhead goalie Anthony Caputo took a laser shot off the helmet and was down on his knees for a few minutes. Caputo was replaced by Ryan Ott till the next whistle. The defense continued its stellar play against a swarming West offense.
Riverhead managed to add two more goals in the fourth quarter, but the penalty flags continued to come out against Riverhead, taking the steam out of any Riverhead comeback. The final score was 10-7, Smithtown West.
Connor Grauer had three goals and one assist, Dalton Lucas had two goals, Kamryn Gill and Connor Kalmus had one goal each.
Riverhead finished the 2018 season 9-9 overall, and 8-7 in conference. RiverheadLOCAL photos by George Faella
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