Lady Chiefs Magical Soccer Season Ends In Quarterfinals

After defeating heavily favored fourth-seeded School of Art and Business High School, 2-1, in overtime at Flushing Meadow Park last week, Canarsie High School had the confidence it needed to upset fifthseeded Francis Lewis High School in the PSAL class A girls' soccer quarterfinal at John Adams High School in Queens.

The Lady Chiefs played their typical stingy defense, but could not ignite their offense, as neither team scored in the first half.

However, Canarsie's defense made a costly mistake, allowing Lady Patriots' Laura Marmolejo to break free and find the back of the net to break a scoreless tie at the 50th minute of the second half.

Francis Lewis (13-0-2) pressed hard for the next 25 minutes, but the Lady Chiefs proved up to the task, keeping the opposition from extending its advantage.

Canarsie had its opportunity to tie the game when captain Anna Kay Robinson blasted a long free kick over the out stretched arms of Lady Patriot freshman goalkeeper Julia Bernhardt. But the ball clang off the crossbar and bounced back, which Francis Lewis eventually cleared.

"That was a great save (by the crossbar)," Canarsie head coach Eric Blom said with a sarcastic tone. "What can you say?"

Unfortunately, the Lady Patriots were able to grind out an insurance goal at the 77th minute of the contest and proceeded to defeat Canarsie, 2-0, and end its magical season.

Blom took solace in the way her team played all year long and how deep they went into the playoffs against all odds.

"It's been an unbelievable season," she said. "Nobody thought we were getting this far. We were underdogs in every game. Everybody thought we were going to get killed in every game. They could have killed us. But we held them (almost) the whole game. We had a chance if we could have kept it going. But we didn't."