By:Tom Jordan
Oceanside gave South Side a scare in Nassau girls soccer semifinals, but fell to the Cyclones 2-1 as South Side battled back from a 1-0 deficit. The Lady Sailors' Joanna Nipitella scored 13:41 into the game on a penalty kick. Oceanside's 1-0 edge marked the first time all season that South Side had trailed in a game.
Going into the meeting, No. 1 South Side had outscored opponents 44-7 in amassing a 15-0 record. They have not lost a game since October 1999, when Whitman pulled the trick, 4-3, in the Long Island finals. They are considered by the National Soccer Coaches' Association of America the best high school girls' soccer team in the nation.
But the No. 5 Sailors had played them tough all season.
In a Sept. 29 game, Oceanside battled the Cyclones to a 1-1 tie until late in the second half, when a Christine Abrams goal off a crossing pass from Katherine Stritzl won it for South Side. The Sailors lost a rematch, 3-0, on Oct. 19, but wanted nothing more than another crack at the defending Class A champs.
They got it, and clearly came to play. The tension built as goalkeeper Meredith Wen kept the Cyclones off the scoreboard, turning back shot after shot. South Side's Christine Conway stopped six shots to keep South Side close.
The Sailors had the Cyclones on the ropes until just before the intermission, when Adams struck again, scoring the goal that knotted things. Corry Silon knocked home what proved to be the game-winner on a penalty kick with just over 28 minutes to play, and the Cyclones' defense held the lead. It was her eighth goal of the season.
The Sailors gave a tremendous effort, but the Cyclones were just too tough.
South Side defeated No. 9 Farmingdale 2-1 on Oct. 29 on goals by Silon and Abrams, her ninth. They'll play No. 3 Valley Stream Central in the finals at the Mitchel Athletic Complex on Tues., Nov. 6. Valley Stream Central beat the No. 2 seed, Massapequa, 2-1, on Nov. 2.
The Cyclones beat Valley Stream Central twice during the regular season, 2-0 on Sept. 24 and 4-1 on Oct. 4. All of their top scorers made came up big in those games. Silon, Nina Nanavrakis (nine goals) and Lisa Jaffa (six goals) all dented the net.
But no team can be overlooked in the playoffs, as Oceanside proved.
