One phrase reverberated through the cold, rain-soaked air as spectators filed into Hameline Field at Wagner College on Friday night for the second annual Staten Island High School Soccer All Star games: It hasn’t rained in four months. This was always followed by a wry acknowledgement of the chilly, rainy, and occasionally snowy evening.
However, the weather had no effect on morale.
With their smiles beaming with pride for the sons, daughters, friends, and family members getting ready to compete in the evening’s two main events, fans flocked into the stadium wrapped in layers of blankets, rain jackets, boots, and gloves.
Nobody was dissatisfied when they departed Hameline Field. When commemorating the year’s greatest moments, sports networks repeat the exciting match that the Boys North and South All Stars played. The Girls North and South All Stars, not to be outdone, enthralled the freezing, snow-covered audience with a match that was intensely contested to the very end.
It was a memorable soccer night that demonstrated that the passion for the game can endure even in less than perfect circumstances.
With great pride, the Son of a Pitch Football Company crew, who organized the event, left. Parents expressed sincere gratitude for the unforgettable evening, the players displayed their full range of abilities, and the fans left feeling completely happy.
Coaches, meanwhile, grinned proudly at what their athletes had accomplished on the field. In keeping with their goal of providing the greatest experience for all participants, the organizers are already looking into ways to improve the event the following year. However, if they could only manage the weather, it may be absolutely ideal.
In the high school all-star game for boys, the North defeated the South. The @sonofapitchmedia’s Joe BolellaBolella, Joe
North wins by PKs after a furious comeback.
All Stars, who represent North high schools on Staten Island, defeated the South 5-3 in a penalty-kick shootout after mounting a furious comeback in the second half to force extra.
With 17 players from seven different high schools, the Southern All Stars left little room for doubt in the first half, taking a decisive 3-0 lead barely eighteen minutes into the match.
Manu Kambouris (Sr., Monsignor Farrell) blocked a lateral back line pass and fired a shot past North keeper Robert Milosavljevic (Sr., Port Richmond) to open the scoring just two minutes into the game for the guys in blue.
In the 13th minute, Kambouris scored for the South once more as the North struggled to put together an offensive. He started a counterattacking surge from the midfield but got the ball back at the top of the box and launched a top shelf shot that brushed off a North defender on its way to twine. Five minutes later, in the eighteenth minute of the match, South teammate Nicolas Fisherman (Sr., Staten Island Academy) punched home a low-lining cross from Philip Vitarelli (Sr., St. Joseph by-the-Sea) from just outside the goalbox, giving South a commanding three-goal lead.
After that, possession leveled, and three consecutive corner kicks gave the North a barrage of chances, forcing goalie Christian Mlynarski (Sr., Sea) to make a few stops to maintain the clean sheet for the whole forty minutes. However, the North played better in the last ten minutes and capitalized on the momentum for an unlikely comeback in the second half.
In the 56th minute, with the North applying pressure, Joseph Jacobs (Sr., Curtis) scored a crucial goal from just outside the 18-yard box. He did this by moving quickly inside the box and sending a beautiful cross to Gael Moran (Sr., CSI), who headed the goal past goalie Aidan Grey (Sr., Tottenville).
With less than six minutes remaining, Jacobs scored again by threading a pass to the left flank, guarded by two defenders, to teammate Andrew Gavrilov (Sr., Susan Wagner), who fired a rising shot from deep into the corner of the goal to pull North to within one, 3-2. The South tightened from there, occasionally firing away in an attempt to end the game, but the tenacious North team, led by longtime St. Peter’s head coach John Liantonio, refused to give up.
The game appeared safe for the South until the very end, but a crucial error with just over two minutes remaining would cost them dearly. South defender Roman Shapar (Jr., New Dorp) took down Moran inside the 18-yard box, and Moran made it painful by launching a blast into the upper middle of the net on the PK past a diving Gray to tie the score at three.
Since there were no real chances in the last two minutes, the game proceeded straight to a penalty kickshootout, which continued back and forth until the fourth round. The result was 4-3 in penalty kicks when Shermicah Moore (Sr., Susan Wagner) of the North sent a rocket to the left that just went under Gray. The game’s first miss came from Brian Puleo (Sr., Tottenville), whose rocket bounced against the crossbar. In order to give North the unlikely victory and earn a personal hat trick, Moran took over and calmly put his penalty into the middle of the net.
The first-ever girls’ all-star game was won by the North squad. Joe Bolella, @sonofapitchmedia, provided the image.Bolella, Joe
The North holds on with a 3-2 victory after a wild conclusion.
The North squad, which consisted of 15 players from eight different schools, scored twice in the first half and then added an unlikely goal in the second half to defeat the South 3-2 in the inaugural Staten Island High School Girls Soccer All-Star Game.
Early on, the North team appeared ready for a significant victory, controlling the ball and setting the pace with a string of short-range passes that kept the South on the defense. The North took the lead just under six minutes in, using a punishing attack to create one chance after another before a desperate defensive clearance fell at the feet of Tima Dzemovski (Sr., Notre Dame), who beat South keeper Carolynn Oakes’s (Sr., Tottenville) outstretched arms with a riser from the top of the box to give the North a quick 1-0 lead.
The North took a 2-0 lead just 7:20 into the match after a costly South midfield turnover found the boot of Liazia Tolbert Francis (Jr., Curtis), who threaded a beautiful 40-yard pass straight onto the foot of a running Camille Banks (Jr., Curtis), who settled inside the box and rainbowed a shot over Oakes.
From there, the teams found a more even pace, with the North attempting to counterattack and add an insurance marker while the South produced a little more offensive output with the long ball over top.
But it wasn’t until the 32nd minute that both teams were stopped. The lightning-fast play of Kaydence Hodges (So., Moore) allowed South to finally break through as they began to mount a more consistent attack. Hodges ran down the left flank and into the box, where keeper Daniella Ferrari (Fr., Notre Dame) caught a small piece of the shot but still managed to catch the inside of the post to make it 2-1 just before halftime.
In the second half, the teams exchanged shots, and while the South tried to equalize, the North also had opportunities. As a result, reserve South keeper Ava Petersen (Sr., Susan Wagner) had to make a number of excellent saves to keep her team ahead. Between the pipes, Ferrari was equally capable, swerving a few of shots and watching a group of them go wide.
The South began to lose hope as the game progressed within five minutes, and they made a huge error in the 36th minute when Petersen knocked down Tolbert Francis in the box and was called for a foul, allowing the North the chance to win the game with a penalty kick. A shaken-up Petersen continued to play and saw Tolbert Francis’ attempt to maintain the score at one goal go high over the bar. Tolbert Francis was there at point-blank range to score the goal to make it 3-1 in the 36th minute, seemingly ending the game, after an injured Petersen chose to play a short ball in her own box that was mishandled by the defense.
However, the South had different ideas. Jaime Como (Sr., Sea) was hauled down in the box with two minutes remaining to win her own penalty kick. With ninety seconds remaining, the senior left no question as she blasted the goal past Ferrari to make it 3-2.
But the North held on for the 3-2 victory, and it would be the last time the South tried because they were unable to produce another push up the field.
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