Tottenville’s Brianna Castaldo (26) is hugged at midfield by senior Kaitlyn Regan (An Rong Xu)
Brianna Castaldo walked back to midfield with her hands in the air and her teammates draped around her waist.
The Tottenville midfielder had just sent a perfectly placed free kick to the upper 90 from 35 yards out. McKee/Staten Island Tech goalkeeper Yuliya Kim, who stopped Castaldo from a similar distance minutes earlier, leapt as high as she could. The ball hit her hands, but rolled off just under the crossbar and into the back of the net.
“I’m glad that it dipped at the right moment,” Castaldo, a junior, said. “I took so many of those shots and it kept missing, that was my final one to go in.”
The 76th-minute game-winner completed a stunning and late comeback by the third-seeded Pirates. They scored twice in the final eight minutes and saw goalkeeper Julia Simoniello turn aside a penalty shot to earn a thrilling, 2-1 win over rival and No. 7 seed MSIT in the PSAL Class A girls soccer semifinals Thursday at Flushing Meadows Park.
“In soccer it pays to be good, but it’s better to be lucky,” Tots coach George Kaplan said.
Tottenville advances to the final for the first time since it last won the crown in 2006. There it will meet No. 1 and unbeaten Beacon, ranked No. 1 in the city by The Post, at St. John’s University Sunday at 2 p.m. The Pirates (14-2-0), who lost in the quarterfinals a season ago, split two regular-season meetings with MSIT (12-4-0).
“It’s like finally we can do it,” sophomore Nicole Tantillo said of the feeling after Castaldo’s goal. “Tech’s been winning lately, the past few years. That just said we can.”
It was her that gave Tottenville, ranked No, 3 in the city, its first hope of doing that. The Seagulls, ranked No. 7 and riding an eight-game winning streak coming in, were holding onto a 1-0 lead thanks to a Val Dema goal in the 21st minute. The Pirates controlled play at times, but were unable to get consistent shots off thanks to the play of MSIT sweeper Breanna Brukalo, until they pushed up in the final 20 minutes.
Tots sweeper Joanne Mierzejewski’s throw-in found the foot of Kasey Murphy in the box. The senior’s shot was saved by Kim, but Castaldo tapped the ball near Tantillo during a scramble and she was able to kick it home in front in the 72nd minute to tie the score at 1.
“That goalie kept on bobbling the ball all the time,” Tantillo said. “I just figured I might as well just run for it.”
The Pirates’ momentum was almost short lived. They were called for a handball in the box on a corner kick. Kaplan said he was surprised to see Brukalo step up to take the ensuing penalty shot instead of star striker Jackie Bruno. MSIT coach Joanna Santarpia said her players decided the junior would take it because she had been burying them in practice. Simoniello gobbled up a shot that was struck nearly straight on.
“It’s all about reading body language,” Simoniello said. “I’ve known her since she was 8 years old. I kind of know her specific patterns.”
Grabbing the ball and ending the scoring threat gave the senior keeper the feeling something big was coming and that luck was now on her squads side. Castaldo saw her first attempt from 40 yards stopped a few minutes later, but would not be denied after Dema was whistled for a foul and Castaldo stepped to take a shot.
“In practice she has been doing it regularly,” Kaplan said. “We had her do it like 25, 30 times in a row. She takes the long ones.”
And makes them too.
