Seeded fourth out of eight teams in the PSAL’s “L” bracket, Flushing advanced to the city’s final four nevertheless, capped by Tuesday’s 3-0 win over No. 3 Stuyvesant.
Kenny Mena scored twice, including the match’s first goal in the 55th minute, Nicandro Rivera added another and keeper Julian Garcia made 19 saves, stopping a pair of breakaways for the Red Devils.
Flushing entered the playoffs losers of two straight, but took out fifth-seeded Madison in the opening round and No.1 Clinton after that. “I knew we had a good team,” Coach Marek Skorupski said. “I knew we were going to make it far in the playoffs even though we were seeded No. 4.”
The Red Devils now face a familiar playoff foe - nationally ranked Martin Luther King, Jr., 3-0 winners over Newcomers. The Knights knocked them out of the playoffs three times in a four-year span, most recently in the 2005 final.
“It’s not like they are unbeatable,” Skorupski said. “The boys are going to step up. If we play the way we played the second half today and the way we played against Clinton, it should be a close game.”
In PSAL “B” action, Beach Channel, John Adams and Jamaica advanced to the semifinals.
