Sports

Boyle nets three, sends TMLA to Brooklyn/Queens final

Therese Boyle had her shot all planned out as she dribbled into the box, but that idea didn’t last very long.

“I wanted to take it sooner, but there was a ditch there and I kind of stumbled,” the Mary Louis star sophomore said.

Her loss of balance and ball control had teammate Deirdre Ray, who herself thought about going to goal before sending a through ball up the side to Boyle, a little worried. When she caught back up to the ball deep along the right side, the striker had just enough of an angle left to shoot across the box and neatly into the lower left-hand corner in the 60th minute.

“All I’m thinking about is just get the ball, control it and rip a shot,” Boyle said.

The goal gave her a hat trick and Fontbonne Hall, unlike the first half, didn’t have an answer. Mary Louis held on for a 3-2 win over the Bonnies in the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens girls soccer semifinals Wednesday at Flushing Meadow Park. TMLA ends the Bonnies string of consecutive crowns and earns a date with regular-season champion Christ the King 6 p.m. Friday at Aviator Sports Complex in the final.

“I really honestly thought if we got another goal in the second half they were not going to come back on us,” TMLA coach Tom Bruen said because of how his team controlled play.

Boyle put the Hilltoppers (9-2-2), ranked No. 10 in the city by The Post, up just five minutes in. She stole a pass at midfield, dribbled past two defenders and scored to the low left corner to give TMLA a 1-0 lead. She picked up her second tally in the 20th minute on a shot from 25 yards after Eva Scazzero, who later hit the crossbar, put pressure on Bonnies keeper Kristina Mandala.

“We trust her with the ball,” Ray said.

But with each of her initial two goals came a Bonnies answer. TMLA won both regular-season meetings, but Fontbonne (5-8-1) is fully healthy and playing its best soccer. Senior Rachel Gersh ran onto a clearing pass at the top of the box and scored high in the 15th minute to tie the score at 1-1 and Kristiana Padavona had a beautiful sliding kick along the left side that she deposited into the upper 90 to knot things at 2 in the 32nd minute.

“They were brilliant balls,” Bruen said.

Fontbonne had won six of the last seven Brooklyn/Queens titles and coach Victor Popovsky was proud of his team’s performance. He felt mistakes in the back allowed Boyle to break free. He chose to keep Gersh out of the game for six minutes midway through the second half before Boyle scored. He wanted her to think about the mistake she believed she was making by holding the ball too long instead of getting it quickly ahead.

“You can’t win them all, but I’ll be back,” Popovsky said.

TMLA goalie Kim Myers had to make a diving stop on a blast from the top of the box in 55th minute and she beat Cindy Henderson to a through ball into the box in the closing seconds. Mary Louis limited many of Fontbonne’s signature kicks and runs.

“I thought we kept up with them,” Popovksy said. “We had chances. The last chance, Cindy [Henderson] I thought she was going to tie it.”

Instead the TMLA seniors get a chance to play in their first-ever championship game after losing in the semifinals the last three years in the CHSAA Nassau/Suffolk Class A playoffs. In their way is a Christ the King team it tied and fell 2-0 to during the regular season.

“They are a great team, but I think we are equally as good,” Ray said. “It’s going to be a good game.”