Francis Lewis comes off the field after beating MSIT. (Joseph Staszewski)
Jeovani Paredes’ second-half gameplan was simple. The Francis Lewis coach told his team to get the ball to star senior midfielder Gena Koutsounadis and she was going to find a way to win the game. He even had them all say, “Get the ball to Gena” twice in the halftime huddle.
“It was a little pressure,” she said. “I wasn’t nervous. I knew I could do it.”
The plan changed a little bit when Koutsounadis had to move to sweeper when starter Valerie James couldn’t continue after injuring her ankle late in the first half.
The ball did eventually find its way to her. She was called upon to take a penalty kick when McKee/Staten Island Tech keeper Victoria Wuensch took down Taylor Ferreira from behind during a scramble in the box.
“They only thing that was going through my head was that I have to make it,” Koutsounadis said. “My team is counting on me. I had to get it in.”
She tucked the shot into the lower right-hand corner in the 46th minute. Koutsounadis and her teammates made it stand up as No. 6 Francis Lewis went on to beat No. 3 McKee/Staten Island Tech, 1-0, in the PSAL Class A girls soccer quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon at Midland Field.
“You get scared,” senior goal keeper Julia Bernhardt said. “We practice them all the time, but Gena’s Gena. I was pretty confident in her.”
The win sends the Patriots to the semifinals for the second time in three seasons. The senior group got there as freshmen under then-coach Roger Sarmuksnis, who was in attendance Tuesday. They vowed to return after consecutive losses in the quarterfinals and face No. 2 Beacon 12 p.m. Friday at Grand Street.
“Very happy,” Paredes said. “I think this team deserves it.”
They got there by keeping one of the city’s best teams and best players in Jackie Bruno off the scoreboard, despite James barely playing in the second half with an injured ankle. Lewis (12-0-3) crowded the middle and kept most of the MSIT (11-1-2) shots coming from the outside. Bruno, who is headed to UMass, did have a breakaway chance in the first half of an extremely physical game, but James forced her to take an extra touch and Bernhardt made a sliding save in the box.
The Seagulls’ final flurry came with less than 20 minutes to play. Nicole Brennan shot a cross into the box by Lindsey Boody wide. Bruno had a header off a corner kick go left and a Brenna DeRosa shot took a high bounce in the box, but Bernhardt was able to scramble back and recover it.
“Very nervous,” Paredes said of the bouncing shot. “That’s not the way you want them to tie the game.”
The loss ends the careers of MSIT’s seniors, which led the school to a city title as freshmen and had lost in the semifinals the last two seasons. Coach Joanna Santarpia said it was unfortunate their first loss of the season had to come as a result of a penalty kick, but it doesn’t change their legacy with the program.
Francis Lewis and its own seniors will move on for at least one more game. It was Beacon that sent the Patriots home in penalty kicks three years ago and this time they hope the outcome will be much different.
“It means a lot to us,” Koutsounadis said. “Last time we were in the semis was freshman year. We are taking it all the way this year.”