Gianna Smith believed she had the game won twice.
Her St. Joseph Hill girls soccer team had just rallied from a two-goal deficit and was putting plenty of pressure on the St. Joseph by the Sea defense in the game’s final 20 minutes and came within inches of taking the lead.
Smith lobed a shot from 18 yards to the bottom of the cross bar, but Vikings goalkeeper Victoria Donegan made a punch save to send the ball just over the net. Donegan denied Smith again in the final seconds. The sophomore darted through a crowd of St. Joseph by the Sea defenders just inside the box on the left side sending a shot to the near post that Donegan made a full out diving save on.
“I thought it was going in,” Smith said.
Instead the Hilltoppers had to settle for a 2-2 tie with the Vikings in CHSAA Staten Island girls soccer at Miller Field on Tuesday. The teams remain the lone two unbeaten squads in the division.
“Coming back was a great statement on our part,” said Hill coach Tom Siller, who was upset with his team’s tentativeness early. “Second half, that is the game we expect to be able to play.”
It was Smith’s goal that made a lot of that possible. She got the Hilltoppers (2-0-1) back into the game two minutes after Sea scored twice to take a 2-0 lead. Smith ran down a chip into the box in the 25th minute and tucked it into the net. The Vikings (2-0-1) jumped ahead quickly. Junior Madeline Barbarino scored off a feed from Jessica Walsh and junior Kelly Oehm beat Hill goalkeeper Keelan Smith to a rebound on the left side of the box for a goal. The two scores came within 1-1/2 minutes of each other and made it 2-0 midway through the first half.
“Once we got the first goal we realized we were capable of [scoring] and were just as good a team as they were,” senior midfielder Christina Quinn said.
Last week’s win over defending Archdiocesan champion Notre Dame Academy, which had not lost a league game since 2006, has instilled a new level of confidence in St. Joseph Hill.
Senior Dana Draper tied the score at 2-2 in the 42nd minute on a shot from 8 yards out Tuesday. The Hilltoppers created multiple scoring chances late including a direct kick just outside the box that went wide, keeping the ball constantly in the Vikings’ end of the field in a fast-paced and physical game.
“The girls never felt like they couldn’t come back,” Siller said. “They are confident in their offense this year. We are a resilient team.”
