Julia Silverman saw what she thought was the tying goal knocked away early in the second half. Leon Goldstein keeper Sasha Hernandez got her finger tips on a rising shot from 15 yards. The Dolphins would score again to take two-goal advantage minutes later. Silverman, though, was never discouraged.

“I felt if I scored in other games I had to score in the playoff game,” she said. “I can’t not score. I guess it drove me to keep shooting and keep trying.”

Silverman got the goal she was looking for, chipping in a shot from 15 yards out over a leaping Hernandez to pull the Tigers within a score. It was as close as they would get as No. 18 Goldstein tacked on two more goals for a 4-1 win over No. 15 Riverdale/Kingsbridge in the PSAL Class A girls soccer first round at South Bronx Sunday morning.

“She is a very determined player,” Riverdale/Kingsbridge coach Julienne Krause. “She goes out there and she doesn’t give up. She is someone I can always count on to play with a lot of heart.”

Krause said the goal made her team feel like it could come back just as it has done so many times this season, but Goldstein (9-3-1) and forward Pamela Wishart, who scored twice, created many more quality scoring chances than Riverdale. The Tigers (9-2-1) had their opportunities though, but Hernandez was always there to turn them aside. The sophomore keeper made 12 saves, including on blasts to the far post from 14-goal scorer Carlene Fontanez Lutsky and Silverman, who had seven goals this season.

“I think we would have had a lot better chance of winning if they didn’t have that goalie,” Silverman said.

Just making it to the playoffs for the first time in program history was quite an accomplishment for Riverdale/Kingsbridge. The program was just a club team four years ago. It finished second in Bronx A-1, increasing its win total from 5 to 9 and have just five seniors on the team.

“To make the playoffs with a 15-seed in the city is pretty impressive, from nothing,” Silverman, said. “Just a club.”