Sports

St. Anthony's Boys Soccer Earns CHSAA Title

Friars take Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA title with 3-1 win over Chaminade; earns first-round bye.

Chaminade's Vincent Valenza had already broken away from the pack in the corner, putting himself square in front of the net for what should have been an easy kick into the box, sailing past the goalkeeper’s hands.

Midfielder Mark Jecewiz wouldn’t be able to get there in time as the ball hurled off Valenza’s left foot, sailing into the arms of Anthony Lopatowski and keeping off the board 8 minutes and 30 seconds into the second half of what was turning into a desperation grudge match with archrival  at Ott Field in Miineola Tuesday afternoon.

The Friars had already took the first game and secured at least a share of the Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA reguler season title. The best the Flyers could hope for was a win, knotting them both and setting up a coin flip.

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“I just knew that I had to keep a shutout,” Lopatowski said “In order for us to just mentally keep everyone going.”

A corner kick from Kevin Mercadante bounced off the temple of fellow middie Hunter Frey, miraculously finding the net as the shadows crept along the pitch, shutting out the light on the game and the regular season in the 75th minute.

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By then it was too late.

By then St. Anthony’s who had given up the shutout but remaining up by two still managed to match the Flyers move for move. St. Anthony's earned a 3-1 win. 

“Our first goal is to win the league, then the league championship and hopefully go to the states,” Friars Assistant Coach Don Corrao said. “This is huge.”

Friars senior Fabrizio Petrallia had gone past Chaminade goalie Brian Westerman into the net seven minutes into the game. Westerman, who was playing with a bad back also gave up a pair of goals to senior Carl Faber, the second coming on an open net situation.

“I didn’t know if I was going to start him in the second half, he wanted to play,” Chaminade Coach Matt Gallagher said. “You could tell on that play he just wasn’t… normally he’d come out and knock the ball out and he kinda hesitated a little bit and the hesitation cost us.”

The hesitation along with other mistakes on the field cost Chaminade (9-1-2) a first-round bye, and will send them into , a third game against St. John the Baptist on Nov. 1 at home at 2 p.m.

“It was more we tried to sort it out a little more in midfield and we were having a little bit of trouble gaining any possession because when you play on this field with the caliber and the size of these kids a half a bad touch gets punished,” Gallagher said when asked about the far more physical match played against St. Anthony’s than Chaminde’s typical defensive style. “You kinda want to eliminate the half a bad touches and play a little bit more direct and we didn’t have a lot of success doing it.”

St. Anthony’s will play its final game of the regular season Thursday night at Kellenberg.

“There’s nothing like playing home, everyone’s ready to go, we’re ready to win the league championship,” Lopatowski said. 


1 2 F St. Anthony’s 2 1 3 Chaminade 0 1 1

 

Chaminade Scoring Statistics


Player Position Goals Assists Vincent Valenza Forward 1 0 Kevin Mercadante Midfielder 0 1

 

St. Anthony’s Scoring Statistics


Player Position Goals Assists Carl Faber Defenseman 2 0 Fabrizio Petrallia Midfielder 1 0

 

Chaminade Goalkeeping
Goalie Saves Brian Wasterman 5

 

St. Anthony’s Goalkeeping
Goalie Saves Anthony Lopatowski 9


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