The Owls’ field is about 20 yards narrower than most fields from sideline to…
By Zach Lowe
The Bryant girls’ soccer team used home field advantage and a little bit of luck to defeat Townsend Harris, 2-1, in a pivotal game between two PSAL Queens A contenders Friday.
The Owls’ field is about 20 yards narrower than most fields from sideline to sideline.
The tight squeeze made scoring difficult for the visiting Hawks, who play their home games on a spacious field that gives their speedy wingers room to outrun their defenders and track down long passes along the sidelines.
“Playing on this field is so bizarre,” said Townsend Harris head coach Chris Hackney, whose team dropped to 4-2 and sits alone in fourth place. “It’s like playing in a pinball machine.”
The Hawks were also without two of their quickest players, forward Stephanie Inwald and defender Nicole Silva. Bryant, which improved to 6-1 and remains in a first-place tie with Bayside, capitalized by controlling the ball for most of the early going.
In the 11th minute, Bryant forward Cristin Zea Alfonso broke loose down the left sideline and drew a corner kick when a Hawk defender kicked her cross out of bounds.
Zea took the corner kick and lofted a perfect pass toward the far post, where Lindsey Molina headed the ball into the opposite corner of the goal, giving the Owls a 1-0 lead.
In the 24th minute, the Hawks came within inches of tying the game when a shot took an unpredictable bounce off the foot of an Owl defender and flew over the head of goalkeeper Vannesa Schoening.
But Catherine Drizis, a junior defender, raced in behind Schoening and prevented the goal with a perfectly executed bicycle kick.
“That almost gave me heart attack,” Drizis said.
Bryant went up 2-0 five minutes later when forward Stravoula Giannoukakis pulled up along the right sideline and lofted a long-distance lob from almost 25 yards away. The ball floated just over the head of Hawk keeper Jennifer Polish, who was back-pedaling frantically.
Giannoukakis admitted the goal wasn’t exactly intentional.
“That was total blind luck,” she said. “I was actually trying to cross the ball into the middle.”
Townsend Harris got back in the game five minutes into the second half when Drizis collided with teammate Patrycja Szewczyk near the midfield line and lost the ball.
Hawk senior captain Kathryn Dubowski took possession and streaked down the middle of the field on a breakaway. Schoening charged out to cut off the angle, but Dubowski slipped a rolling shot past the diving goalie.
“It’s really not like our defense to just collapse like that,” Bryant head coach Peter Maliarakis said of the collision.
The Owls’ defense clamped down for the final 30 minutes, surrounding Dubowski with two and three defenders and preserving the 2-1 margin.
“Defense is usually the strongest part of our game,” said Maliarakis, with the bicycle-kicking hero Drizis standing nearby. “And we know that if someone messes up, we’ve got Catherine over here to take care of business.”
Cardozo 5, Flushing 0. Nicolina Coppola had four assists to lead Cardozo (4-4 Queens A).
Bayside 3, Townsend Harris 1. Veronica Leon scored two goals for Bayside (7-1 Queens A).
Far Rocakway 4, Beach Channel 1. Troy-Ann Bailey scored a pair of goals for Far Rockaway (2-2 Queens II-B).
Cardozo 4, John Adams 0. Katie Mermelstein had two goals, Joan Tymon had a goal and an assist and Catherine Yim had a goal for the Judges.
Francis Lewis 8, Flushing 0. Caroline Verna had two goals, Angela Wooley had three assists and Yon-Young Sung had a goal for Francis Lewis (6-0 Queens A).
Jamaica 4, John Bowne 0. Rocio Hernandez had two goals, and Sabrinna Moore and Delmi Pot had a goal apiece for Jamaica (9-0, 6-0 Queens B-I).
Bayside 3, Newtown 1. Leon had a hat trick for the Commodores.
Forest Hills 7, Robert F. Wagner 1. Ana Islas and Caroline Sierra had two goals apiece for Forest Hills (4-1, 3-1 Queens B-II).
Long Island City 2, Newcomers 1. Jessica Restrepo and Cynthia Mendez scored for Long Island City (4-1 Queens B-I).
