Science’s Elizabeth Schaeffer had two goals and an assist. (William Thomas)
Bayside’s Vanessa Jimenez is saddened by the loss. (William Thomas)
Bronx Science was in a battle for its playoff life in the quarterfinals. It needed a late goal to tie before winning in overtime against Long Island City and found itself tied at the half with Bayside in the semifinals.
“That was scary,” senior Elizabeth Schaeffer said of the quarters. “We didn’t really play our best that game. Today I really feel like we stepped it up.”
The top-seeded Wolverines scored six unanswered goals, including three in the second half in a matter of four minutes. The outburst allowed them to cruise to a 6-1 win against No. 4 Bayside in the PSAL Class A girls soccer semifinal Friday morning at Grand Street.
Schaeffer scored twice and had an assist and freshman Gianna Finz had a goal and an assist. Science advances to play No. 2 Beacon 1 p.m. Sunday on Randall’s Island in the final.
“It was big relief,” Finz said. “It was like a weight was lifted off. We knew last time we came out slow and we made it tight. Now we were able to open it up.”
First-year Wolverines coach Annie Eckstein said she felt an outburst of some kind was coming with the way her team started creating scoring chances against the wind in the first half. Bayside (12-1-2) struck first on a 30-yard free kick by star junior forward D.J. Glazer that bent into the top left corner over leaping Science keeper Claire Markoff just four minutes into the game.
Science (15-0-0) got even in the 20th minute when Commodores goalie Vanessa Jimenez made a save on an Isabella Pecorari shot, but Nadine Penkovsky kicked in the rebound. Eckstein moved a banged up Lucy Evert into goal early in the first half to calm down the back line. Bayside flurried late, but could not score.
“The last fifteen minutes of the first half I felt like we were dominating and just not putting the ball in the net,” Eckstein said. “I thought with the wind behind us in the second half, as long as that continued it was going to change.”
The second-half onslaught began quickly. Finz controlled a Catherine Foy throw-in just inside the box, turned and fired a perfectly placed shot into the lower far corner in the 46th minutes. Four minutes later she battled to keep another Foy throw-in alive behind the net. Finz found Schaeffer right in front of the goal for an easy score to make it 3-1. Schaeffer also headed in a Jackie Wideen cross and found Pecorari for a goal to cap the scoring. Phoebe Dawkins added a goal.
“It felt great as a freshman coming into the team being able to add something to help [the seniors] make it through to the championship,” Finz said.
Bayside was unable to add a title game appearence to its fine season. The Commodores won Queens A-IV for the first time since 2008 and advanced past the second round for the first time since that year despite losing senior star Daniella Valencia late in the regular season. Coach Maggie Kassimis graduates very few key players from this year’s club.
“It’s disappointing that we lost, but we leave the season extremely proud of the girls and what they did,” she said. … ”It’s hard when you are one game away from the championship, but I’m extremely proud of the way they played the entire year.”
Bronx Science season a success will have to beat defending champion Beacon if it hopes to win its second title in three seasons. The Wolverines topped the Blue Devils in the title game two years ago and own a 1-0 win in a non-league game early this season.
“We are really excited,” Schaeffer said. “We definitely feel like we are going to take this championship.”