Kevin Garcia is a highly recruited national prospect. Tommy Garafola is a high-scoring striker. They are the two players St. Francis Prep’s opposition must prepare their game plan around.
That philosophy, though, leaves openings for senior midfielder Mike Santalesa. Tuesday night, as has been the case throughout the year, he made the other team pay.
Santalesa’s blast from 20 yards out into the upper right hand corner was the difference for the Terriers in a tense 1-0 victory over St. Peter’s of Staten Island in a CHSAA Class A intersectional semifinal at Belson Stadium.
“He’s clutch,” St. Francis Prep Coach Franco Purificato said. “He’s definitely clutch.”
“I’d been shooting for a while,” Santalesa said. “I knew it was going to go in sooner or later.”
The defending CHSAA city champions, St. Francis Prep will defend their title against Fordham Prep, 2-0 winners over Archbishop Molloy in the other semifinal, in a rematch of last year’s title game that went into penalty kicks.
The top seed, St. Francis (13-2-4) carried play throughout, outshooting St. Peter’s, 10-2. Mike Biordi was turned away at the doorstep and Garcia’s diving header sailed just wide of the left post in the 60th minute.
“It was very frustrating,” Santalesa said. “We should have put them away in the first five minutes.”
Santalesa ended the drama as the match neared extra time. Surrounded by Eagles defenders, Garcia fed the New Hyde Park resident in open space. He immediately wheeled and let loose a right-footed laser that found net with 1:37 remaining.
“I was confident,” he said.
Asked why, Santalesa replied, “I know my shot.”
Of the Terriers’ three runs to the finals, this has been the most stressful for Purificato. In 2003, they shocked everyone by coming from nowhere to win the CHSAA city and state championship after a poor regular season. Last year’s journey, which included an undefeated league mark, was akin to a magic carpet ride. This fall, with talent sprinkled throughout the roster and last season’s dominance in mind, the Terriers were undoubtedly tabbed as favorites.
The players may enjoy that status, but it has worried Purificato. “The hardest part for me is I’ve never been the team,” he said. “I haven’t been sleeping nights. We know if we lose we did something wrong.”
Now that they’re back in the final, he can rest easy - for a few days. “I’ll be fine tonight and tomorrow night,” he said. “Friday night I’ll probably have some problems.”
For the second year in a row, Archbishop Molloy fell in a heartbreaking semifinal. Last year it was in penalty kicks to St. Francis Prep. This time, with 1:45 left in regulation, a set play did them in.
Fordham Prep’s Mike Mazzullo headed in Jeff Horn’s corner kick past Stanners keeper John Coster amid a sea of red and blue jerseys.
“It was ecstasy, it was amazing,” Mazzullo said.
“They rushed the net. It was a scramble. I went for it,” Coster somberly whispered. “It’s very hard. It’s a shock for it to end like this. Everyone went up and they got lucky.”
