By Zach Braziller
Bayside boys’ soccer has nine losses over the last three seasons. Seven have come via Francis Lewis, including the most painful one, Friday’s 3-1 setback in the Public Schools Athletic League Class A semifinals at New Dorp on Staten Island.
To say the Patriots have the Commodores’ number is an understatement.
The year began with Bayside hoping it could finally overtake Lewis, stopping its undefeated run in Queens. Instead, it ended with three more losses, two of them taut affairs. Bayside led the first meeting 3-0 at halftime, only to come undone in the second half and fall 5-4. It was thoroughly outplayed 2-1 in the second showdown.
Friday’s match fell in-between those two, the Commodores playing with the same grit and fight they displayed in a shocking upset of defending champion Beacon in the quarterfinals despite the absence of star midfielder Santiago Moore (torn meniscus).
“It’s tough, especially when you’re right there,” Bayside Coach Joe Corrado said. “There have been games that have been so close. It’s something we’re gonna overcome. It’s not like we’re getting blown out.”
Their defense, a question mark during much of the regular season, kept the potent Patriots down. The battle of midfield was fairly even, despite Moore’s absence. Lewis (15-0-0) led 1-0 at halftime, thanks to a scintillating strike from senior striker Yiming Yang, the kind of goal Bayside has received from Moore so often this year.
“[His absence] obviously played a role, he’s the type of player that can really change the game,” Corrado said of the junior, who had 17 goals and 15 assists this year before injuring his knee in the second round against FDR.
It got even in the 54th minute, when Marcello Russo netted a penalty kick. But Lewis answered with a goal on a penalty kick of its own and held off the Commodores until Nikolas Touros iced it in the 79th minute. Bayside walked off with its head held high, disappointed but pleased with its effort. It reached the semifinals for the first time in Corrado’s 12 years on the bench, finished second in Queens A East, one of the city’s top divisions, and fought valiantly despite being significantly shorthanded.
“I knew I could’ve made a difference,” Moore said. “Their defense is not that fast. I could’ve beat them, especially with the wind.”
Much of this group returns, too, though valuable goalkeeper Constantine Pougiouklidis and the physical Russo do graduate. Moore will be back for his senior year, joined by midfielders Andres Huerfano, Kevin Londono and fullbacks Kerone Johnson, Danny Babar and Mario Reyes.
They will return next fall with the same goal they had in mind this August.
“We want to end the streak,” Moore said. “We had them that [first] game. We just got to come back even harder.”
