Tottenville’s Brianna Castaldo (26) and Beacon’s Emilie Richard race to get posession of the ball. (Damion Reid)
Kaitlyn Regan and Kasey Murphy shared a teary-eyed hug in the middle of Belson Stadium as Beacon players celebrated around them. The Tottenville seniors solemnly walked together to the awards table after their stellar season ended a win shy of its goal.
“It was definitely a good year,” Murphy said. “I’m happy. I couldn’t have asked more from my girls. I wish obviously we could have ended it with a championship win, but at least we made it to a championship.”
Third-seeded Tottenville fell, 2-0, to No. 1 Beacon in the PSAL Class A girls soccer final at St. John’s University Sunday afternoon. The Pirates were making their first appearance in the final since it last won the crown in 2006.
It was also the last year they won the Staten Island A division prior to this season, one in which they beat rival McKee/Staten Island Tech twice. The second win came in come-from-behind fashion in Thursday’s semifinals.
“They tried hard,” coach George Kaplan said. “We didn’t make many subs because we had to keep the first line in. We had more shots on goal than them, but the ones that go in are the ones that count.”
Beacon freshman Camila Kirtzman made the most of her shot. She took a feed to the right side from Sophie Kligler 30 yards out. Kirtzman quickly lofted a shot high in the air that went over the head of Pirates’ keeper Danielle Caporicci in the 30th minute to give Beacon a 1-0 lead. She scored in similar fashion to start the Blue Demons’ semifinal win over No. 5 Petrides.
“You didn’t expect it,” said Kaplan, who joked that someone must have raised the crossbar at the last second. “It was a lucky goal, but luck plays a big part in soccer.”
His squad didn’t have the same good fortune with its long shots. Beacon (17-0-0), ranked No. 1 in the city by The Post, crowded the top of the box and kept Regan — who had a first-half header and an 18-yard shot after the break both go wide — at bay for much of the match. Brianna Castalado, the Pirates semifinal hero, had a 30-yard blast sail over the crossbar with 20 minutes left to play in the game. Third-ranked Tottenville (14-3-0), put more pressure on after the break as it pushed up players.
“We didn’t let down,” Murphy said. “We came up a lot harder in the second half. We are a much stronger second-half team.”
Jennifer Angione put any hope of a Tottenville comeback to rest 13 minutes before full time. She turned on a Kirtzman pass at the top of the box amongst a sea of Pirates defenders and scored to the top left corner to extend the lead to 2-0. Tottenville loses six seniors from this squad.
“They are a very good team,” Kaplan said of Beacon. “They deserved to win. Next year, maybe.”