Pamela Wishart panicked for a second. She had just controlled a deflection outside the box on the far side and slipped through a pack of defenders with Riverdale/Kingsbridge goalkeeper Zanovia Pierce off her line.
“After my last defender I saw her running at me and I was like, ‘What do I do? ‘All you have left to do is shoot.’” the Leon Goldstein striker said. “And that was it.”
Wishart found the back of the net for the first of two scores to give the Dolphins a two-goal lead early in the second half. Goldstein struck twice more to pull away for a 4-1 win over Riverdale/Kingsbridge in the first round of the PSAL Class A girls soccer playoffs at South Bronx Sunday morning. Both teams were making its first appearance in the Class A postseason.
“It made us feel comfortable and it made us feel like we could score more goals on them,” Wishart said of her goal, which gave No. 18 Goldstein a 2-0 lead in 45th minute.
Michelle Plasencia scored first to the near post off a long cross from Vanessa Ramos to make it 1-0 at the half. The Dolphins (9-3-1) had two early shots that they thought crossed the goal line, but the referee said Pierce got to them in time.
“It just makes you feel like you have to do it better the next time,” Wishart said.
The score easily could have been tied in the opening minute of the second half. No. 15 Riverdale/Kingsbridge forward Julia Silverman sent a high shot to the top of the net from 15 yards out, but Goldstein sophomore keeper Sasha Hernandez made a leaping save to knock the ball away. She made 12 saves in the game.
“I kind of got it with my finger tips,” Hernandez said.
Silverman would get the best of her shortly after. The junior scored on a chip just under the cross bar from inside the box to make it 2-1 for the Tigers (9-2-1) in the 49th minutes. Marielle Denaro scored on a blast from 20 yards on the far side and Wishart added her second goal and with six minutes to go to cap the scoring.
“I knew they were going to play 10 times harder because they wanted that one goal tie us up,” Hernandez said.
Riverdale/Kingsbridge came on strong to start the second half, but Goldstein created more quality scoring chances through the game. Wishart had a handful of near misses herself. The Dolphins defense was able to limit Tigers leading scorer Carlene Fontanez Lutsky.
The task ahead for Goldstein will certainly be a challenge. They next face No. 2 seed Beacon 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the second round. The Blue Demons are undefeated and were the city runner up a season ago.
“We wanted to make it to the playoff,” Wishart said. “Now that we beat the first one, we want to finish it. We want to win.”
