Mark Pesano remembers the winless season during his first year on the Marlboro boys’ soccer team.

The four-year journey culminated at Faller Field on Wednesday when the Dukes saw their season end with a 1-0 loss in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class B subregionals to the Section 1 champions, the Westlake Wildcats, who were on a historic run of their own.

“That put a fire under us,” said Pesano, a senior. “There’s a couple of other seniors that know where we’ve been and now where we are, and we don’t take it for granted. We were just going to work as hard as we can. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way.”

Like the Dukes, who four days earlier had won their first Section 9 title, the Wildcats, on the same day won their first-ever Section 1 championship.

The Wildcats scored their lone goal in the game’s ninth minute, when Isaiah Ortiz dribbled down the field from the left side. He cut across the field toward the right post, and then turned and tucked his shot into the top right corner, out of the reach of Marlboro goalkeeper Alex McAteer for the game’s only goal.

“It’s always disappointing losing, but I thought we played great tonight,” Marlboro coach Jim Ventriglia said.

“At this stage, it comes down to the smallest detail. We let our guard down for a split second and a good team like Westlake capitalized. But our guys bounced back and played great.”

The Iron Dukes had some opportunities, but couldn’t deliver the equalizer, and McAteer made several key saves to keep the Wildcats from adding to their lead.

“It’s tough to lose like that,” Pesano said. “But to get this far, it’s never been done in school history. I think everybody knows on this team that we’re proud of everything. It’s been a long battle and we’re proud of everything.”

The Dukes’ senior class walked off Faller Field knowing they made history. At a school where mostly every other sport has some kind of championship banner up in the gymnasium, soccer was notable by its absence.
Not anymore.

“It feels awesome,” Pesano said. “It feels like no one’s been behind us and now that we finally got one and we put something up on our banner, it finally shows our town what Marlboro’s soccer really is all about.”

Ventriglia announced on Tuesday that Pesano and fellow seniors Dylan Gunsett and Sam Lofaro were selected to the Section 9 Soccer Coachers Association Class B All-star team.

The Dukes also will lose Alexis Camacho, Tim Feeney and Esteban Gerardo.

“We outlined a plan early on – before they were freshmen – that we were going to do all these things, and we were going to achieve success and bring the program back to a successful program,” Ventriglia said. “And they bought into it, and they went through ups and downs for the last four years, but they came through this year in a big way.”

None bigger than in the past week when they rebounded from losing in the Mid Hudson Athletic League semifinals to FDR to come back and win their first sectional title and first NYSPHSAA appearance.

They blazed the trail for players like McAteer, Chris Hagar, and others to follow in future seasons. It will be difficult to replace the seniors that the Dukes will lose, but Ventriglia has full confidence in the players expected back.

“It’s going to be tough to battle back after losing some of our seniors and being in this game,” Pesano said.

“It’s tough to live up to that hype, but they’re all dogs. They’re all going to work harder next year. They’re going to grow and they’re going to be together for four years just like we were when we were freshmen. They’re going to be back here in no time.”