By John Tolis
Christ the King saw history repeat itself.
The Royals defeated Iona Prep 1-0 in the CHSAA Class AA boys’ soccer quarterfinals at Randalls Island Saturday. They upset the Gaels two years ago to reach the program’s first semifinal at the highest classification. CK Coach Ovid Cusu thought his team deserved to be back.
“We outplayed Iona for the majority of the game, we had a lot of chances,” he said.
The long goal came when Royal forward Cesar Oviedo tapped the ball in the net in the 77th minute after it hit the top post and Oviedo hustled to the rebound. The Royals were attacking throughout the entire match. Christ the King won the time of possession as it moved the ball smoothly around the pitch and played shutdown defense. The Royals limited Iona Prep to only two shots on goal. The Gaels nearly tied the score in the 90th minute, but the shot scraped the top post and went out of bounds.
“Really good-fought game by both teams, we moved the ball well,” Oviedo said. “Last time this team smacked us around, so we wanted to come back out and show them we knew how to play against them.”
Christ the King (7-6-3) was the better team as Iona Prep had trouble moving and holding the ball up front. After getting upset in the quarterfinals last year, the Royals have no desire to stop now. They were set to face defending champion and rival Archbishop Molloy Oct. 31 at St. John’s University.
“We showed today that we’re a good team, we don’t like to be pushed around,” said Oviedo. “We’re going to fight and I hope for the best. I hope we win because I want the finals.”
Archbishop Molloy 2, Monsignor Farrell 1: The Stanners jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when senior forward Denes Kostel powered the ball past the goalkeeper into the net. Just minutes after the first goal, the Stanners struck again to make it 2-0 when a Dillon Zimmerman shot hit off a Farrell defender deflected into the net.
“We played real well in the first half, it was a close game where it shouldn’t have been,” Molloy Coach Andy Kostel said. “We were really kind of dominating and I like the way we created opportunities in the first half.”
Molloy (13-1-2) moved the ball quickly and played a lot of short passes. They created many chances for themselves and the defense was solid. Farrell got on the board with only seconds left in the second half when senior John Capo headed the ball past the goalkeeper that made the score 2-1. The Stanners feel good heading into the semifinals.
St. Francis Prep 2, Regis 0: Brandon Silva had two assists and Joey Loboco and Mike Frango each had goals for the Terriers (11-3-2), who earned a semifinal rematch with Fordham Prep Oct. 31 at St. John’s University.
Silva sent a free kick across the box that Loboco kicked home with his left foot. SFP grabbed a 2-0 halftime lead when Frango ran onto a Silva pass into the box and buried it into the corner of the net. St. Francis Prep is the only team to beat Fordham Prep this season.
“When we play well we can beat anyone,” Terriers Coach Franco Purificato said. “It just depends which team shows up. We are going into the game confident. I don’t have to get my guys up for Fordham.”
