St. Joseph by the Sea was left shaking its heads for the fourth straight time against St. Joseph Hill.
The Vikings have not scored a goal against them since a draw in last year’s first meeting. Coach Arturo Radano pointed to numerous reasons for a 3-0 loss to the Hilltoppers in CHSAA Staten Island girls soccer in a steady rain at Miller Field Thursday. There was the weather, a little bit of unluckiness and the lack of aggressiveness from his squad against the Hill attack.
“It’s not like they found a hole,” he said. “They tried [harder].”
Twice, Hilltoppers forwards outran a pack of Vikings defenders to long through balls up the middle of the field. Victoria Chirico did so on a ball from Gianna Smith in the 18th minute on the second goal and Smith did the same when Meghan Siller, who Radano credited with controlling the midfield, fed her for the final score three minutes into the second half.
“Every time she gets the ball it is hard to stop her because she is fast.” Radano said of Smith, who saw limited action in Hill’s 1-0 win on Sept. 25 because of injury.
The lack of luck came on the game’s opening score. Siller took a 25-yard free kick that Sea goalkeeper Christi Colangelo misjudged. Instead of popping up, the ball skidded on the wet grass and went between her legs to give defending divison champ Hill (7-0-0), ranked No. 1 in the CHSAA by The Post, a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute.
“It happens to the best of us,” Sea senior captain Madeline Barbarino, whose white jersey was muddied by the game’s completion. “Stuff like that shouldn’t happen in this game, but it could happen to anybody. It’s just unlucky.”
The No. 8 ranked Vikings (6-2-0) had very few scoring changes into the first half, but finally got things going a bit after the break. Alexandra McGuire had a shot go just wide in the first five minutes. Shortly after, Jessica Walsh send a perfect cross to the far post that Kelly Oehm kicked high, only to see Hill keeper Kristy Ricca make a leaping save. Another cross by Walsh into the box was sent over the crossbar by Melissa Gelardi in the 56th minute.
“When the ball is wet you make so many mistakes because you can’t control the ball.” Radano said.
Sea, which will need to beat Notre Dame Academy a second time to claim second place, had lost 1-0 to Hill in its prior three meetings, including the Archdiocesan championship game a year ago. The more lopsided loss this time around will not change their mindset going forward.
“We can either come out of this game with our heads down or our heads up and that will depict the rest of the season,” Barbarino said. “We are going to come out with our heads up from this. “