Kennedy advances in playoffs

Kennedy picked a good time to end its five-game losing streak, knocking off No. 12 North Shore, 2-1, in the first round of the Nassau County Class A girls’ soccer playoffs last Friday.

Wind speed help dictate the tempo of the game, as the blustery conditions and nifty footwork by the fifth-seeded Lady Cougars (6-7-2 overall) helped wear out the field on the Lady Vikings side through the first 40 minutes. Junior midfielder Meredith Jones, in the middle of most Kennedy attacks during the game, helped break a scoreless tie with a crossing pass to senior Jennifer Alfonsi, who blasted it by the keeper in the 38th minute.

“We hadn’t scored in two games so it took a little pressure off of our backs,” Kennedy coach Janine Bizelia said. “When we snuck in the second goal, that took a big weight off.”

Alfonsi had a part in Kennedy’s second goal with just under six minutes remaining, when the rebound of her partially blocked shot was blasted by North Shore’s keeper, Antonella Maffettone, by senior Krista Trinidad. A score by Isabella DeBendetto with less than four minutes remaining cut the lead in half and set up a scramble down the stretch, but the Lady Cougars defense hung on and helped the team advance to the quarterfinal round for the fourth time in the last five seasons. Kennedy played fourth-seeded Wantagh after presstime, and a victory would put the Lady Cougars in the semifinals for the first time in program history.

“In order to win games we have to play harder than the other team,” Bizelia said. “We have to step up and win the 50/50 balls and go 110 percent.”

Kennedy clearly pushed the pace throughout the first half and much of the second, as Jones, Trinidad, freshman midfielder Vanessa Rodriguez and even junior Lauren Kranis, a defender, played the role of aggressors on most loose balls and transitions. Kranis had a header go wide in the opening half and later forced Maffettone to make a diving save. In a one-minute span midway through the second half, sophomore Sam Dorushkin let fly with a shot from the right wing, Trinidad put a shot on net and Alfonsi — off another feed from Jones — had a shot fly wide. “Meredith [Jones] is a huge asset,” Bizelia said of her physical midfielder who had a hand in setting up a number of Kennedy’s 14 shots. “She wins a lot of 50/50 balls.”

In wearing out the opposite side of the field, the Lady Cougars also limited the scoring opportunities on their own goalie, senior Nicole Liotta, though the future Division-I goalie was tested several times despite facing just four official shots.

In facing Wantagh, Kennedy was up against a familiar Conference A-I opponent. The two teams tied the first time they met in the regular season, 1-1, on Sept. 11. The Lady Warriors won the rematch, 3-0, on Oct. 18.