Adam Vitulano scored the game-winning goal that sent Farmingdale High School to the Nassau County boys soccer finals just one day after his father died of liver cancer.
The 16-year-old junior striker buried his first career playoff goal in double overtime Sunday, lifting the Dalers past Plainview-Old Bethpage 2-1 at a moment when grief might have overwhelmed most teenagers. John Vitulano, Adam’s father, lost his battle with the disease Saturday.
“It was definitely one of the greatest moments of my life,” Vitulano told The Post after the victory.
The only child found himself reaching for words that would bridge the impossible gap between loss and triumph. “Just thinking about how proud my dad would have been in that moment,” he added. “I just know that he’ll always be here with me.”
Soccer had knitted father and son together since Vitulano was three years old, and the bond survived into the advice John gave him before the biggest match of his young life. “Just have fun and don’t let anything get in your way, and always fight through everything,” Vitulano said, repeating the words he is now carrying onto the field.
That message has become his operating manual for Saturday’s county final against Oceanside, scheduled for 2 p.m. At Farmingdale State College. “I just really want to bring energy to the field,” he said. “The first five minutes are going to be crazy.”
Vitulano has not had to carry his grief in isolation. The Dalers roster and coaching staff have surrounded him since John’s death, attending services for his father even as they prepared for their championship run. “They’ve just been such an awesome support for me and my family,” said Vitulano, now in his second varsity season. “There’s no other team I would want to do it with.”
The support system has allowed him to process while competing, a balance few adolescents are asked to strike. His teammates’ presence at John Vitulano’s services underscored the depth of connection within a program that has become surrogate family during the most punishing week of the striker’s life.
Now Vitulano is channeling everything toward one more performance that would honor the man who first placed a soccer ball at his feet. “I know he’s looking down on us, and I think he’s going to be the one to guide us through,” he said.
Farmingdale faces Oceanside for the Nassau County title Saturday at 2 p.m. At Farmingdale State College.