By Dylan Butler
The Holy Cross soccer team met before dawn for its CHSAA quarterfinal clash with Fordham Prep Saturday, but unlike many of the fans, the Knights didn’t need any coffee or energy bars when they arrived at Iona College in New Rochelle.
Holy Cross was wide awake from the opening kickoff, scoring two goals in the opening eight minutes in an impressive victory over the Rams.
“Our team was psyched up from the beginning,” said junior Ariel Castellanos, who had a goal and an assist. “We were just determined to win.”
The Knights, who have steadily improved this season, played their best soccer of the season in the opening 20 minutes.
Holy Cross (9-7-3) dominated the opening portion of the match, getting several quality scoring chances off quick one-touch passes through the midfield.
After Eric DiFulvio had a rebound goal disallowed 1:13 into the game because he was offside, the junior midfielder flicked a header past Fordham Prep keeper Billy Werner off Castellanos’ free kick in the fourth minute.
Four minutes later the Knights, who looked nothing like the team that struggled to finish its scoring chances during the regular season, made it 2-0 when Castellanos received a cross from Bobby Milonovici and scored on a one-timer from 16 yards out.
“Throughout the season we’ve been trying to find the right formation. Recently we found the right formation,” DiFulvio said. “We’ve had a lot of unlucky chances throughout the season, but we’ve finally come together.”
Fordham Prep (8-2-1) played the first 30 minutes of the game without starting defender Tim Walsh, who arrived late because of traffic, and shook off the early deficit and did a better job of attacking in the second half.
“We didn’t have our normal back four and it made a difference,” said Fordham Prep coach Peter McNamara, whose team came into the game off a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Regis in the Archdiocese of New York championship match.
“Holy Cross came out real sharp. We had a pretty good second half and had about four or five pretty good scoring chances, but we didn’t threaten them in any way,” he said.
The Holy Cross defense, especially co-captain Jeovani Parades and senior Marcus Fredric, did a great job of negating Fordham Prep senior striker Ricky Schramm, only allowing the league’s top scorer a pair of harmless flick headers in the box and a free kick from 28 yards out in the second half.
“[Schramm] is a very talented player, but I was quite happy with the way Jeo and our stopper sandwiched him and didn’t allow him too many opportunities,” said Holy Cross coach Dom Cinelli. “We knew early on he got too many touches but I think we held him pretty well in check.”
Holy Cross advances to the CHSAA semifinals where it faces a familiar opponent as the Knights try to avenge a pair of losses to Archbishop Molloy in a game scheduled for Wednesday night at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point.
The Stanners took an early season game, 3-0, and edged the Knights, 1-0, in the regular season finale.
“The first two times we played them, we played a good game,” DiFulvio said. “We haven’t beat them yet, but this would be the time to do it, in the semifinals.”
Holy Cross 3, Stepinac 0. Milonovici, Tamer Mohamed and DiFulvio scored for the Knights in a first-round win last Thursday afternoon.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
