Despite numerous scoring chances and a wind that blew in their favor during the second half, the Ballerz, the boys’ soccer team, lost to the Red Devils of Flushing High School, 3-0. The quarterfinal game was held at New Dorp High School in Staten Island on Tuesday, November 7.
Nine Stuyvesant players totaled 27 shots on goal for the Ballerz, with 19 of those saved by Flushing senior and goalkeeper Julian Garcia.
“We had a lot of opportunities in the first half, many of which could have been finished,” senior and co-captain Matt Konigsberg said. “If we had scored, the entire game would have changed since we would have had a lead.”
“Their goalkeeping was exceptional,” Ballerz coach Adam Goldstein said. “[Stuyvesant] broke apart their defense and [Garcia] just continued to come up big.”
Sophomore and Ballerz goalkeeper Alex Sandler came out of the goal box numerous times to try to save the ball. Combined with a lack of defenders down the field, senior and Flushing forward Kenneth Mena took advantage of the open goal. He scored the first goal of the game in the 60th minute, causing the Ballerz to fall behind for the first time in the postseason.
“After the first goal was scored, I was a bit down because our trouble all season had been finishing,” Konigsberg said.
Mena, who scored 19 goals in the regular season, got past the defenders and Sandler again to score a follow-up goal 15 minutes later. “It was only a matter of time before a player of that caliber was going to get an opportunity that he was going to capitalize on,” Goldstein said.
Flushing senior and midfielder Nicandro Rivera scored a goal in the 80th minute, clinching the win for the Red Devils.
The loss comes less than a week after senior and midfielder Jake LaMountain scored the Ballerz’ only postseason goal when he headed a shot during the closing minutes of the second overtime against Canarsie High School on Thursday, November 1.
This second-round game, scoreless until the end, also presented numerous opportunities for the Ballerz to score throughout, including three shots on goal by junior Dylan Levy. It was their second straight game to go into overtime after they won their first round match over Long Island City High School, 4-2, in penalty kicks.
The Ballerz went home disappointed with their loss.
“My aim was to face Martin Luther King, Jr. [MLK] High School in the playoffs. We fell one step short,” Goldstein said. Had the Ballerz won, they would have faced MLK—who won their quarterfinal, 3-0, against Newcomers High School earlier that day—in the semifinals.
The Ballerz advanced further in this year’s playoffs than they did last season, when they lost in the second round to Francis Lewis High School, 3-0.