HSMSE Lady Dragons win PSAL Class B girls’ soccer championship

HSMSE Girls' soccer team - Evgeni Dobranov

The High School for Math, Science, and Engineering girls’ soccer team won the PSAL Girls' B Soccer championship 3-1 in a penalty shootout against Julia Richman on Sunday, November 9th. The teams were tied 1-1 at the end of overtime on Randall’s Island Field 10. This tight victory marks HSMSE’s first ever citywide varsity championship.

From the first whistle, the Lady Dragons played aggressive, but couldn't maintain solid control. In the first four minutes, Richman had two corners and forced a save on sophomore goalkeeper Annabelle Shultz.

 “I definitely felt more pressure [over last game],” Shultz said. “Last game, after we scored the first goal, we were so set that we were going to win and kept scoring more and more. In this, we were 1-0 almost the entire game.”

The game soon changed direction when sophomore midfielder Hillary Rodriguez assisted sophomore forward Jacqueline Hall in the seventh minute.

Things got really awkward for the Lady Dragons at the start of the second half. Both senior defender Sahar Saedi and freshman midfielder Alex West were shown yellow cards on consecutive plays. West received her yellow for a delay of game right as Saedi was returning to the field after the action died. On the ensuring play, Saedi received a yellow card for a rough foul.

“[The delay] was because Sahar came back and she was supposed to take the goal kick,” West said. “My foot hurt and so I couldn't kick it that far, and I didn't want them to get the ball and score. I was trying to get away from the ball.”

The nail biting game was the greatest challenge for the Lady Dragons all season. Richman’s 52nd minute equalizer was the first time the Lady Dragons were tied this year. The girls weren’t fazed by this new challenge, as the Dragons fought hard to win the game until the final whistle. With one minute left, Hall found herself past Richman’s goalkeeper with the ball, but two defenders were waiting on goal. Hall’s shot deflected off a defender and hit the post, giving the Lady Dragons the last corner before overtime.

The two teams, weary from 80 minutes of regulation play, faced another 20 minutes of overtime to determine who would win the championship. Both teams teetered on the brink of scoring during the overtime period; however, Shultz managed two great saves to keep the Lady Dragons in the game.

co-captains Yael Saiger and Galit Wiener with Zafonte -  Batya Wiener

The first penalty taker was West, who upon scoring, quickly put on gloves to be the stand-in goalkeeper. To the average spectator, this came as a surprise, but coach Regina Zafonte made the team practice penalties on West during the post-season. West never saved any official penalties, but was mere inches away from stopping Richman’s first. Hall and junior midfielder Taieesa Peshkovsky scored the next two while Richman missed their remaining chances.

“I knew that Alex has been trained to do this and I was so confident in her,” Schultz said.

The undefeated season ended in a deserving championship for the Lady Dragons. According to tradition, the champions will be brought up to A-Division. It will be interesting to see how the team takes on the tough challenge next season. The current seniors are the only players to have experienced the A-Division before the team was dropped to the A-Division in the 2012-2013 season. For now, the only certainty is that the champions have much to be proud of.

“It’s the most amazing experience," said Zafonte. "I’m just happy that all this hard work for the past two months culminated in success and the better team did win today. It feels amazing.”