Suleiman Haruna-Iya was like a football running back. But the people he was trying to avoid were his teammates.
The LaSalle star forward netted a golden goal to give his team a thrilling, 4-3 win over Cardinal Hayes in the CHSAA Class A boys soccer quarterfinals Friday in The Bronx. Then he took off.
“After he knocked it in, we all tried to take him down,” LaSalle coach Al Barbosa said with a laugh. “He kept running. He did not stop. He passed our bench and he just hopped on the floor. All the guys jumped on top of him. I tried to hold his head, so no one would step on his face.”
LaSalle (11-3-1) will now head to the semifinals, where it will meet either Mount St. Michael or Cardinal Spellman at a date to be determined. It is the program’s deepest run in the postseason in the last decade.
“In the preseason, I felt that we had something special,” Barbosa said. “I just didn’t know how long it was gonna go. Little did I know, here we are.”
Jorge Barrenechea had a goal in the 10th minute from Vito Mannino and Haris Kolenovic found the net, assisted by Haruna-Iya in the 30th minute. Them Haruna-Iya, the sophomore stud from Nigeria, took matters into his own hands. He tied the game at 3 off a rebound in the second half and then with just two minutes left before penalty kicks he ripped a 30-yard blast to send his team to the semis. It was his 28th goal of the year.
“The kid is phenomenal,” Barbosa said. “Outside of soccer, he’s just a humble kid. Just his presence on the field, so many guys jump on his shoulders, he just takes the team with him. That’s the kind of guy he is.”
Ricardo Reid had two goals and Marco Ramirez had the other as Hayes (8-2-5) fell in the quarterfinals for the second straight year.
LaSalle, though, will be moving on. During the season, Barbosa said the soccer program had gained a new life at the school, earning a buzz in the hallways and classrooms. Now the Cardinals are back on the CHSAA map altogether.
“We’ve just been blessed,” Barbosa said. “We’re very happy.”
PSAL CLASS A
No. 5 Aviation 3, No. 12 Columbus 2: The Flyers (13-1-0) are back in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2005 when they lost to eventual champion Martin Luther King Jr. in the semifinals. They will host No. 20 John Adams, their Queens A West rival, Monday at 2:30 p.m. Columbus completes its season with a record of 9-3-2.
PSAL CLASS B
No. 8 Hunter College HS 6, No. 9 Taft 4 PKs: Jakub Glowala scored twice, Patrick Yang, Adam Eckstein, Ben Metrikin and Lucas Zheng each scored once and keepers Drew Adler and Leroy Knight combined to make seven saves for Hunter College HS (12-2-1), the defending PSAL Class B champion which will visit No. 1 John F. Kennedy Monday at 2:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals. Taft finishes up at 11-4-1.
