By Dylan Butler
The Forest Hills boys soccer team was outsized, outmanned and trailed the two-time defending Queens ‘A’ East champions Francis Lewis by one goal at half-time Friday.
Freshman Phil Yovance wasn’t worried.
“I just believed in the team,” he said. “In practice we work hard and if we have a good practice, we have a good game.”
The Rangers must have had one astounding practice last Thursday, as they scored two goals in a nine-minute span late in the game to upset the Patriots, 2-1.
“Coach [Bob Sprance] gave us a speech at halftime and just told us to calm down,” said Yovance, who scored the game-winner in the 72nd minute. “The first goal just opened everything up.”
The first goal came after 62 minutes of domination by Francis Lewis (2-1). On a rare venture into the Patriots’ defensive third of the field, Oskar Kowalski’s cross found sophomore forward Oscar Yepes open at the top of the box. Yepes beat Lewis keeper Tommaso Martello low to the far post to tie the score at 1.
“I saw [Kowalski] coming down and I knew if he could feed me the ball, I could either take the player one on one or have it,” said Yepes, who was icing a cut just below his right eye he suffered from a collision in the second half. “We were just waiting for the opportunity.”
That was all Forest Hills (1-0-1) needed. After being bombarded by a slew of Lewis shots, it was the Rangers who began to push forward. Nine minutes after Yepes’ tying goal, Yovance struck as he got behind the Lewis offside trap, dribbled in on Martello and, after deking the keeper, slotted the ball into the open net from 16 yards out to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.
“They thought it was offside and they moved up a little bit,” Yovance said. “I just ran up and took the ball.”
Like they did for the first 60 minutes of the game, Francis Lewis controlled play in the final eight minutes and hit the post twice. But the Patriots could not net the tying goal.
“We let them tie us after we dominated,” said Lewis senior Eric Herrera. “We attacked them the last few minutes, but the ball just didn’t want to go in.”
The Patriots had a bevy of opportunities to put the game away in the first half, but it was only Luis Sotelo-Ramos who could find the back of the net, as he stole the ball from a Rangers’ defender at the top of the 18 and beat Forest Hills keeper Marvin Aliaga low to the far post from 10 yards out to put Lewis ahead 1-0 in the 34th minute.
“As the referee said to us, we outplayed them for 80 percent of the game,” said Lewis head coach Larry Diamond. “We outplayed them until they scored a goal. Then they woke up.”
Newtown 2, Aviation 1. Jackson Rodriguez tied the game and David Panchano netted the game-winning goal for Newtown (1-0-1 Queens A West) with less than 10 minutes left. Aviation fell to 0-1-1.
Newcomers 2, Bryant 0. Alex Guerrero and Oscar Corzano scored for Newcomers (2-0 Queens A West).
Edison 3, Hillcrest 1. Tony Cimi, Jose Canales and Arturo Pico scored for Edison (3-0 Queens B North). Hillcrest falls to 1-1.
Bayside 1, Flushing 1. Jing Jun Quan’s penalty kick put Flushing (1-0-2 Queens A East) in front in the 55th minute, but Emre Aksu’s goal with five minutes left from 20 yards yard tied the game for Bayside (1-0-1).
Newcomers 4, John Adams 0. Guerrero scored a pair of goals and Angel Guaman and Johnny Vargas each added a tally for the Lions.
Cardozo 5, Bowne 1. Ahmed Hasan netted a hat trick for the Judges (1-1 Queens A East). Bowne drops to 0-2.
Edison 2, Arts & Business 1. Noe Canales opened the scoring for the Inventors and Tony Cimi netted the game-winner.
Hillcrest 5, Townsend Harris 0. Andre Reeves and Keelan Kelman each had a pair of goals and Jose Hernandez scored the other for Hillcrest (1-0 Queens B North).
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
