Arturo Radano called it the best gift his daughter could give him.
Cristina Radano scored on a cross from Jessica Walsh for the winner with less than two minutes to play to send St. Joseph by the Sea past Notre Dame Academy, 1-0, in the CHSAA Archdiocesan girls soccer final at Miller Field on Staten Island. It is the Vikings’ first crown since 2006 after three straight losses in the title game.
“Everybody was in shock,” Arturo Radano said. “Everybody was happy because it’s the fourth time in a row we have gone to the final, and lost all the time — 1-0, 1-0, it hurts. It was good that we won.”
“[He”s] the first person I went to,” Cristina Radano said .
Walsh sent the cross across the box and Radano, despite playing on a sore right ankle, tucked the ball into the near post for Sea (10-2-0). She said she saw Notre Dame goalie Vanessa Gutzeit on her right and the opposite side of the net unoccupied.
“I just ripped a shot right to the corner,” Cristina Radano said.
Arturo Radano, who played semi-pro soccer in Italy, laughed when asked if he taught his daughter everything she knew. There was nothing funny, though, about the scoring chance Notre Dame’s Alana Urcia produced as she raced up the left side toward the box. She ripped a blast that Sea keeper Madeline Barbarino made a diving save on with 10 minutes left. She also leapt to stop a blast from Alanna Bergstrom earlier in the game.
Notre Dame (8-5-0), which upset defending champion St. Joseph Hill, ranked first in the city by The Post, in the semifinals, had plenty of chances to tally the equalizer, including Taylor Bonanno hitting the post, but could not convert.
“We were able to control the middle of the field, which we weren’t in the beginning of the year,” Gators coach Bill LaTour said. “It was working today, too, until we got a little lax with that one play.”
That was all it took for the Vikings to punch their ticket to the CHSAA state semifinals, where they will meet the the Buffalo winner Nov. 13 at the College of Staten Island.
“They deserved it,” Radano said of his players. “They played so hard the whole year round.”
