Surging VSS ousts South Side

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After winning its second straight conference title in impressive fashion and boasting numerous D-I college recruits, Valley Stream South entered the Nassau Class A girls’ soccer playoffs with more to prove.

On Monday night, the 18th-seeded Lady Falcons faced one of the county’s most-storied programs — South Side — and showed they belong in the conversation with the cream of the crop. Sophomore Mia Asenjo scored in the seventh minute and junior Kayla Camacho notched the eventual winner with 13:22 remaining in the first half as VSS advanced with a 2-1 victory over the No. 2 Lady Cyclones at Rockville Centre Sports Complex.

“It’s obviously the biggest win our program has ever had,” VSS coach Demetri Adrahtas said. “We had a point to make, and we made it. We knew we weren’t a Conference 5 team and asked to be ranked higher, but we took care of business and now we’re here.

“South Side has won so many county championships and I believe had been to the semifinals for more than 20 years in a row,” he added. “They’ve got a great team, but we felt we could play with anyone.”

Senior Kelsey Barrett had the lone tally for the Lady Cyclones (4-1-4 in Conference 1) three minutes after Asenjo put the visitors ahead. However, it was the only time they could solve VSS senior goalkeeper Natalie Peralta, whose allowed only three goals all season.

“I thought we played hard and played well and left everything on the field,” South Side coach Jenn Abgarian said. “We’re a strong technical team and unfortunately came up a goal short. It wasn’t for a lack of effort. They have a few key great players.”

South Side’s defense, led by Barrett, fellow seniors Lindsay Tighe and Erin McElwain, and freshman Christina LiCalzi, held VSS leading scorer Bryana Pizarro (27 goals, including a hat trick in a 3-1 win over Island Trees in last Friday’s outbracket game) out of the goal column but not off the scoresheet. Pizarro assisted on the opening score, which gave the Lady Falcons a boost of confidence.

“You always want to come out and play a strong first 10 minutes,” Adrahtas said. “Especially in a road playoff game you want to set the tone. We wanted to put doubts in their minds because they didn’t know a lot about us. Getting that first goal was huge.”

The Lady Falcons (15-0), who’ve trailed once all season (1-0 to Carey on Sept. 27), tightened the defense in the second half and limited South Side’s scoring threats. The back row was led by senior Lindsey Smith, a four-time All-County selection, sophomore Hailey Roberts, junior Allyson Camacho and freshman Nia Anjou.

“It’s just amazing,” Smith said. “We’ve been working our way up for years. We knew what we were up against tonight, but we had to be confident in ourselves.”

VSS will try to continue its run on Thursday when it travels to face No. 7 Mepham in the quarterfinals at 3 p.m.