Tottenville’s Marco Mingozzi wins the 50/50 ball away from Curtis’ Brayan Evo. (Damion Reid)
The Curtis boys soccer team’s first game without star junior Christian Aldaz was a demoralizing four-goal loss to Tottenville Sept. 25. Their most recent match without last year’s Staten Island A-leading goal scorer was also against the Pirates, but the result was far different.
The Warriors capped the regular season – their first without a division title in six years – by handing the Tots their first loss, 3-2, in St. George on Monday afternoon. Edward Whitfield, Joseph Romero and Henry Soriano each scored once and Brayan Evo, Kareem Crawford and Mustapha Dekkaki added assists as Curtis prevailed for the fifth straight time and improved to 7-0-1 since the loss to the Pirates.
“Everybody has stepped up and everybody has more of an opportunity without the go-to guy,” Curtis coach Joyce Simonson said. “Everybody’s been the go-to guy.”
While Aldaz still leads the Warriors with eight tallies, five others have found the back of the net six times or more. Junior Arlind Stafaj has scored seven goals, despite coming off the bench. Sophomore Eduardo Bravo has also broken out, scoring five goals since Aldaz went out, and Evo, a talented senior midfielder, has seven tallies.
“We still have a lot of people who can score,” Soriano said.
The stingy Pirates had difficulty keeping the Warriors under control. Curtis used its speed and athleticism to create mayhem in the Pirates’ third by attacking over the top and pressuring defenders.
“We could’ve done that the first time, we just didn’t have luck,” Santiago said.
If not for the continued excellent play of keeper Damien Vuotto, Tottenville coach Ron Nathanson said, the final margin would have been much wider. In the second half alone, he tipped away Crawford’s rocket over the crossbar and made back-to-back saves from his knees on Romero and Crawford.
“How did he save that?” an amazed Romero asked Simonson at that point.
Dardan Nika and Allan Tarkatchev scored in each half for Tottenville (12-1-1), which finished the year two points in front of Curtis (11-1-2).
Although the game held little significance in the standings since Tottenville had already clinched the division, it had a playoff feel to it. At the final whistle, the Pirates hung their heads while the Warriors celebrated the victory as the larger-than-usual home crowd cheered.
“We didn’t care if it wasn’t for first place, we wanted to beat them,” Soriano said. “We have a lot of confidence now. If we can beat Tottenville, we can beat anyone.”
A few weeks ago, Simonson was optimistic Aldaz, the star striker who scored 24 goals a year ago, could return by the playoffs, if only in shifts. He expected to be cleared by doctors to begin working out this week, but they didn’t give him the go-ahead from his emergency appendectomy. He desperately wants to be back on the field, but Simonson won’t allow him to rejoin the Warriors without medical consent.
“I won’t put a kid in danger,” she said. “Without Christian, it’s not like we missed the playoffs. I’m very happy with the season we had.”
Or, as Romero said, “This is not a team of one player. We all do our part and we do it well.”
