Like the regular season, striker Jorge Ruiz Echeverri got off to a slow start Monday afternoon.
Helping Bayside reach the playoffs after dropping their first two games - he scored nine of his team-high 12 goals in their last five matches, a stretch in which Bayside went 2-1-2 - Echeverri showed it’s better to be late than not show up at all.
“The second half of the season,” Bayside Coach Joe Corrado said, “he played great.”
His emergence continued in the first round of the PSAL ‘A’ playoffs - again tardy, yet just in time for Bayside.
After an evenly-played and scoreless 80 minutes, the junior forward sent No. 3 Newtown home when he was able to break in alone against Pioneers’ keeper Bryan Solis and tap the ball inside the post for the golden-goal victory one minute into overtime, sealing the 1-0 decision in extra time that moved the upstart Commodores into a second-round meeting with No. 2 Midwood.
“I was just thinking, ‘I gotta get the ball inside the net,’ ” Echeverri recalled. “We needed to get the early goal. … I called for the ball [from teammate Balmoris Pineda] and put it in.”
The sixth seed in the PSAL Class A ‘A’ bracket, Bayside wasn’t expected to go very far this postseason.
Entering the opening round, that projection didn’t mean much to the Commodores. Bayside knew they were capable of knocking off No. 3 Newtown.
“Underdog or not underdog, seeding means nothing [in the playoffs],” Bayside Coach Joe Corrado said.
They proved it.
Bayside (6-5-2) had the edge over the course of the first 40 minutes, but was unable to convert any of their chances. Of course, it helped that the Pioneers (6-3-4) started the game minus six starters because of disciplinary reasons.
“It’s not about winning or losing,” said Newtown Coach John Ramirez, explaining the decision. “It’s about teaching these kids what it’s like to be responsible for their actions and to think before they act.”
Despite the inherent disadvantage, Newtown, the co-Queens A-West division champs, was able to keep Bayside off the board through the first half.
With its regulars returning after halftime, play in the second half evened out. Newtown had a golden opportunity in the 46th minute when Alexis Celleri’s shot beat Bayside keeper William Herrera but sailed just over the crossbar.
In the sudden death overtime, Echeverri displayed why he notched the second most points in Queens A-East (28, 12 goals and four assists) during the regular season. After a somewhat shaky start, Echeverri raised his level of play to help Bayside reach the postseason. And once the playoffs hit, he kicked the Commodores into the second round.
“You have to give everything,” Echeverri said.
In other PSAL ‘A’ opening round matches, No. 7 Aviation shocked second-seeded Curtis, 4-2; Newcomers, the third seed, blanked No. 6 Bronx Science, 1-0; No. 5 Cardozo upset No. 4 Susan Wagner, 4-1; fourth-seeded Flushing routed No. 5 Madison, 4-1; and No. 6 LIC fell to No. 3 Stuyvesant, 4-2.
