Kings Park Girls Soccer Trio Expected To Help Lead Team to Playoffs

As Kings Park girls soccer ventures into the depths of Class AA in 2011 they can rest assured that they are in good hands. They may be facing off against larger schools this year but they return a core group that has the skill and experience to help the Kingsmen make a big splash.

Senior captains Katherine Corcoran and Michelle Yaniello provide all around talent in the midfield and junior sweeper Brittany Mueller is the backbone of a Kings Park defense determined to keep opposing offenses off the scoreboard.

Yaniello is a four year varsity starter and Corcoran has started at Kings Park for three. They grew up playing together and seem to be able to sense where each other is going to be on the field.

“They have excellent cooperation skills, they play awesome together,” Kings Park head coach Brian LoPalo said. “They feed of each other’s energy too and seem to always have each other’s back.”

Corcoran transferred to Kings Park from St. Anthony’s and really came into her own on the soccer field last year. LoPalo described a midseason match against Harborfields that he called a “physical, killer game.” After being forced into overtime it was Corcoran – after having been on the field for the entire 90 minutes – who scored two goals, one with each foot and securing the win.

“From that moment on she became one of our leaders,” LoPalo said. “It was just how she could take over a game and be so explosive, it was amazing.” It was enough to get her named all-county according to LoPalo.

For Yaniello, an all-conference player in 2010, it was the way she marked Hauppauge’s Stephanie Peragallo that had LoPalo raving. Peragallo, who scored 12 goals in the season including five in a single game against Rocky Point, was held to just one goal in the team’s two matchups.

“She’s more of an offensive player, she’s very quick and fast and a hard mark for anybody else,” LoPalo said of Yaniello. “But what stands out about her is that she’s selfless. She will take herself out of the game to mark the other team’s best player and shut them down and take them out of the game.”

Even with all the abilities of Corcoran and Yaniello, it’s the steady play of junior all-state defender Brittany Mueller that holds the Kings Park team together.

Kings Park lost its all-conference sweeper Megan Eckel right before league play began in 2010 but the team didn’t miss a beat because Mueller stepped right in.

“Brittany as a tenth grader stepped right in and held our defense together,” LoPalo said. “She plays sweeper and she’s the leader.  She tells all the other girls who their marks are, she’s like a coach back there.”

Mueller also handles all of Kings Park’s free kicks. She scored five goals last year and added five assists from her defensive position.

““She takes all the younger girls under her wings,” LoPalo said. “She’s a great leader. On the field she’s our player-coach.”

With such a strong foundation to build upon it seems likely that Kings Park will make its mark and a run in the playoffs this year in Suffolk County.