By TONY BELLISSIMO
South wins Island, Nassau Class B titles
Valley Stream South is the Long Island Class B girls soccer champion.
The Lady Falcons continued a memorable playoff run by defeating Suffolk champ Islip, 3-1, in Sunday's Class B Southeast Regional Final/LI Championship at Huntington.
Junior forward Eileen Flood scored twice, while sophomore forward Nicole Hutchinson, a late-season call-up, notched the eventual game-winning goal at 6:15 of the first half. Sophomore goalkeeper Adrianna Crescenzi, another October arrival to the varsity, had nine saves.
South, which won its first-ever Nassau Class B crown in thrilling double-overtime fashion over Garden City on Nov. 7, faces Oneonta (Section IV) this Friday in a state semifinal in Rochester. The winner will advance to Saturday's state championship game.
"I'm so overwhelmed," an excited South coach Stephanie Fries said. "These girls fought through adversity to get this far and they've come up big in the playoffs. It's hard to believe that we're Long Island champions. It's going to take a while for this to sink in."
Two weeks ago, South appeared to be a longshot for the title. The Lady Falcons limped into the playoffs with a handful of injuries and much uncertainty after finishing the Conference II season with a mediocre 4-5-3 record.
They were seeded fifth in the Nassau tournament but knocked off Seaford, fourth-seeded Valley Stream North, top-seeded New Hyde Park and third-seeded Garden City to win it.
"I try not to put any pressure on the girls because I know they're always going to be ready for a game," Fries said. "They couldn't have been more focused for the playoffs. We had some injuries but we've been able to overcome them because all the girls have stepped up."
Two players playing that role are Crescenzi and Hutchinson. They were promoted by Fries late in the regular season and had eight games of varsity experience between them heading into the Long Island Championship.
Less than four minutes after Flood converted a beautiful crossing pass from Allison Valenti to give the Lady Falcons the early lead on Islip just 2:38 into the game, Hutchinson made it 2-0 when she beat two Islip defenders with a nifty move and goalkeeper Danielle Parsons with a hard shot into the left corner.
"It was nice to get on top so early," Fries said. "And those were two picture-perfect goals."
The game had the makings of a shoot-out when Islip cut its deficit in half 57 seconds after Hutchinson's goal. Kathryn Ferry beat Crescenzi from 10 yards out. However, it was the only time Islip's top offensive player would win the confrontation.
"I think we let down our guard a little bit after we scored the second goal," Fries said. "That's not like us. When they scored, we woke up."
Along with defenders Keri Butler, Stephanie Guarneri, Lisa Nolan, Krista Siedlick and Kristen O'Leary, Crescenzi came up big thereafter.
Flood, who continues to battle knee and thigh injuries, gave the Lady Falcons much-needed breathing room with her second goal of the game at the 10:37 mark of the second half.
"The game wasn't as intense as the county playoffs, but the pace picked up after they closed within 2-1," Fries said. Two big reasons why South protected the lead were Valenti and Deirdre Canle. As they have all season, the senior co-captains controlled the midfield. "We can always count on them," Fries said.
South continually had to count on Crescenzi to bail it out in the first half of the Nassau Class B final against Garden City at Mitchel Park. In 100 minutes of intense action, Crescenzi totaled 12 saves, including half a dozen from point-blank range.
"We came out flat for some reason," Fries said. "Adrianna bailed us out. She's been there for us every game and I don't think we would have come this far without her."
South beat New Hyde Park without the services of sophomore forward Bridget Amitrano, who was forced out of action with a knee injury. But Amitrano returned against Garden City and turned out to be the one who provided the heroics.
Amitrano scored twice in the final 2:26 of overtime to close out the epic battle. She knocked in a loose ball following junior Lauren Zdunczyk's corner kick to make it 1-0, and added the finishing touch in the final minute as the Trojans pressed for the equalizer.
"I had doubts that Bridget would be ready to play," Fries said. "This team never ceases to amaze me."
