From the Suffolk County News, Friday, October 22, 1926

A hundred years ago, soccer was Sayville’s fall game — and look who was playing: in 1926, the high school fielded both a boys’ and a girls’ team, generations ahead of its time. The tying goal that Monday went in nearly in the dark; there were no floodlights, just two teams that wouldn’t quit. Some things have changed since then. The purple and gold haven’t.

Twenty-two Sayville starters are named in the line-ups below, plus the substitutes. If one of them is your grandfather, grandmother, or great-aunt, we would love to hear about it.

From the paper, exactly as it was printed:

All Square at Soccer

Double Tie for Sayville Boys and Girls at Smithtown

The Sayville High School soccer teams made another trip on Monday afternoon. This time it was to the battle grounds of Smithtown. The Smithtown boys’ soccer team succeeded in holding Sayville to a tie score of one goal each. The local boys made their tally in broad daylight, while Smithtown put over the tying goal at a time when the ball was hardly distinguishable from the earth. Sayville played a very good game, as did Smithtown, but the Sayville boys had the edge by a small margin.

“Bud” Maasch made Sayville’s goal in the second quarter. Two minutes before the whistle was blown, Sanford scored for Smithtown. It was not the goal-keepers’ fault for allowing this goal; as it was dark, and all that was needed to send the ball through was a short kick aimed for the goal. It was very hard to see the ball which was being kicked back and forth between Sayville’s goal and the middle of the field. Our boys played a well balanced game.

Following is the line-up:

Sayville — Position — Smithtown
Bevelander — Goal — Miccichi
King — R.F.B. — Hose
Stochl — L.F.B. — Kazlick
Such — R.H.B. — Patti
Van Ess’delft — C.H.B. — Brush
Lubina — L.H.B. — Corbaine
Gronert — R.O.F. — Wilson
Miller — R.I.F. — Wells
Maasch — C.F. — Johnson
MacKenzie — L.I.F. — Sanford
Gronert — L.O.F. — Flynn
Kaschata, Burr, Van Emmerik, subs.

Girls Tie Smithtown in Soccer Game

The girls’ soccer team of Sayville fared no better than their compatriots, they ended in a scoreless tie with Smithtown. Both teams were very close to scoring several times during the game. “Barney” Rothaug played a good game at right full-back; many Smithtown rooters were disappointed when she sent the ball out of Sayville’s territory. We’d like to give due praise to each player individually but space does not allow it, therefore we will just say that Sayville High School is represented by a fine soccer team.

Line-up:

Sayville — Position — Smithtown
Ockers — Goal — Miccichi
Rothaug — R.F.B. — Deutzman
Lewis — L.F.B. — Land
Colson — C.H.B. — Mullens
Wolst’croft — L.H.B. — Sjursur [see note]
Vunck — R.H.B. — Swenson
Ayres — C. — Crowe
Mullen — R.I.F. — Moseley
Schaum — R.O.F. — Lourentzen
Dykstra — L.I.F. — Purick
Brink — L.O.F. — Hesse
Knizeski and Heine, substitutes.

Editor’s note: A few surnames in these line-ups are difficult to read in the surviving copy of the paper, and we have printed our best reading of each. If your family knows a correct spelling, please tell us and we will gladly fix it. — From the Suffolk County News, October 22, 1926, pages 1 and 8, via the NYS Historic Newspapers archive.