Perfect finish to emotional run

The last two and a half months of Alyssa Faller’s life could sell as a Hollywood screenplay.
Minor heart surgery cost her the first half of the season. Five weeks ago, a serious left leg injury, in which she badly strained her quad and hip flexor, kept her out of a majority of the second half. A month ago, her father, Joe, whom she calls her best friend, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
With the emotional pain almost too much to take, the Loyola College-bound 18-year-old returned to the soccer field, her safe haven, two weeks ago against doctors’ orders, in time for Queens High School of Teaching’s postseason opener.
On basically one leg, she miraculously led the 14th-seeded Tigers to the Bellerose school’s first city championship, 1-0 over No. 4 Lincoln last Thursday afternoon at Randall’s Island, scoring the game-winning goal in the 65th minute as her ill father Joe delightfully looked on, defying doctors’ wishes three days before Father’s Day.
“To be able to come here and watch her, and experience this for her, I’ve never had a better feeling in my life,” said Joe Faller, a 43-year-old sanitation worker from Floral Park. “I just can’t believe it ended up like this, for her to score the winning goal.”
“It gives me so much energy to keep going,” he later added. “It truly is amazing.”
After spending the first half screaming at the top of his lungs in the bleachers, the heat got to Joe Faller. So, as advised, he sat in his car for the second stanza, the air conditioning turned up. When he sensed his daughter’s big moment, the ball deep in the Lincoln end, he raced out of the automobile, pressed his face up against the fence, and, as the ball found the back of the net, started gyrating to imaginary music.
“I was dancing,” he said, smiling, “and for a white guy I was doing pretty good.”
Following the final horn, the two embraced amid a sea of jubilant bright red and white jerseys. Joe Faller let his daughter know how proud he is of her as a person, as much as the soccer player.
Admittedly, Faller was in no shape to play, often giving herself breaks in the action. When she sustained the left leg injury, she was told to sit out a minimum of eight weeks. She rested for three and somehow scored five goals in as many playoff wins. That included the dazzling chip in the final on the rebound of a Kelly Outler shot, slipping backdoor behind the Lincoln defense, an act of instinct, Faller said, rather than skill.
“It was her will that got the score,” QHST Coach Patrick Kehoe said.
As all great players can, she made up for physical shortcomings in other ways - as a leader, encouraging her teammates; making the prudent play; and taking full advantage of her chance.
“Her graduation yearbook quote was ‘the person who said it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, just lost,’ ” Kehoe said. “That’s her mentality - she’s all about winning, and she showed it today.”
If Faller, fighting through injuries and emotional trauma served as motivation for the Tigers, then the sight of her father, a fixture on the sideline before his illness, at Icahn Stadium added inspiration twofold.
“We needed to do it for Joe,” said junior midfielder Amanda Viteri, who fought through a first-half knee injury.
QHST in itself is a remarkable story. When the program began five years ago, they won just two games. One year later, Faller arrived, beginning the renaissance. Her first two seasons involved mostly her scoring goals and the Tigers fighting to compete. Slowly, the other players, many of whom only played the sport to prepare for basketball season, learned the game and developed together.
It led to a division title last spring, and spot in the semifinals. This year was supposed to be the year the Tigers took it one step further. Then Faller went down, likely costing QHST their second consecutive division title. Her absence, however, enabled the Tigers to develop on their own, and not depend on the star striker who scored 32 goals as a junior.
And when she returned, it all fell into place. It was for that very reason she came back, after all, to win that elusive crown.
“I knew we had a shot and I knew I could help with that shot,” Faller said. “There were times I couldn’t walk - I was on crutches for a while - but you have to deal with pain, that’s what sports is all about.”
Faller winced when asked about her left leg, and gave a little smirk when it was suggested the victory made it go away.
“I can limp happy,” she joked.
The Faller family, and all those close to them, hope there is one more uplifting chapter left to their story. This week, Joe Faller will meet with doctors at Duke University Medical Center, known for innovative neurosurgery, looking for an experimental procedure to attack the malignant tumor.
“Hopefully,” Faller’s mother, Carina, said, “we’ll get another miracle.”