Saint Ann’s goalie Ava Anderson sealed the game with a save in the shoot out. (Denis Gostev)
Packer and Shannon Rhodes fell in the AAIS title game for the second staight year. (Denis Gostev)
Ava Anderson was in an unfamiliar position. The sophomore spent her first year in goal and there she was, a penalty kick save a way from sealing the AAIS title for St. Ann’s
“I was told by a lot of my teammates, ‘No pressure. It’s really hard to get that,’” Anderson said. “So I was really nervous. I really wanted to win the game. We all did so much.”
She guessed right, dove right and collected Anna Schwab’s shot to earn St. Ann’s a 4-3 win in penalty kicks over Packer Collegiate after 110 minutes of scoreless soccer in the AAIS girls soccer final on Randall’s Island Monday. It’s the school’s second crown in three years and keeps them unbeaten heading into the NYSAISAA tournament.
“It was extraordinary in the sense of, ‘Your coming up with a PK save, really? Wow,’” Steamers coach Frank Davis said.
Anderson’s first start came in a 3-2 win over Packer in late September. She saw limited time in net last year with senior keeper Rachel Landman entrenched as the starter. Anderson worked during the season with a goalie coach and Davis has seen steady improvement.
“I got a lot more confident as [the year] went on,” Anderson said.
She was put in position in penalty kicks thanks to the leg of Sienna Giraldi. St. Ann’s (16-0-1), the regular season champion, started the shootout in a hole when Packer keeper Aliza Green made a diving stop of St. Ann’s star Jo Haller on the first attempt. Packer (16-3-1) had a shot go wide on its second try to even things up and Giraldi stepped up with a chance to put the pressure on Schwab. She scored to the top left corner.
“Before I went up I thought it was going to do horrible,” she said. “I felt nauseas, but once you got up there you get in your groove.”
The two teams took turns controlling play during regulation. Both created flurries of scoring chances that produced countless near misses. Packer freshman sweeper Chloe Wallack helped stifle the Steamers attack early, but in the 61th minute Haller sent a high shot from the top of the box that Green punched off the crossbar.
Giraldi ran onto a ball and hit the right post in the 76th minute. In the second 10-minute overtime, Haller sent a 20-yard blast off the right corner of the crossbar. Chin Odim touched a Mika Kligler pass just wide of the net during the first five-minute sudden death period.
“Too many times when I ran back and forth I kept thinking, ‘Ugh, just an inch to the left, just an inch to the right,’” Giraldi recalled.
Packer, which lost in last season’s final to Brearley, felt St. Ann’s misfortunes as a sign they were going to prevail, Villanova-bound star Shannon Rhodes said.
It certainly had its chances. Keegan Mendez put a 40-yard blast just over the crossbar early in the second half. In the 57th minute, she sent a free kick into the box that Rhodes just headed wide. Sarah Miller sent a shot just over the goal in the early part of the final overtime period.
“I thought I was going to see the net move on that one,” Packer coach Rich Domanico said of Rhodes’ header. … ”It was just a great, great high-school game.”
Added Rhodes: “It felt like the game was ours since they kept hitting the post, kicking it to our goalie. I felt PK’s was finally when we were going to get the advantage.”
Her team had it briefly until Anderson took it away for good. St. Ann’s said when the season started they didn’t imagine themselves riding into the NYSAISAA tournament this way, unbeaten AAIS champions. The Steamers biggest test of the season comes when they visit Ivy League runner-up Dalton in the quarterfinals 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.
“Now all we have to do it take Dalton out,” Davis said, knowing the difficulty of the task. “For them nothing is impossible at this point. They can do it. Why not?”