Boys soccer: Westlake survives penalty kicks, advances to NYSPHSAA Class B final four
Talk about overcoming adversity.
Westlake survived a string of game-altering events in a NYSPHSAA Class B regional championship against Babylon on Saturday at Diamond in the Pines, playing the Long Island champion to a scoreless draw and keeping a memorable season alive via penalty kicks.
The Wildcats played the final 60 minutes a man down.
Following 30 total minutes of overtime without a goal, both sides had converted three penalty kicks when Francesco Michilli turned away the final Panthers' attempt. He got up clinched the program’s first state final four appearance, finding the back of the net on his own try.
INSTAGRAM: Watch Michilli's game-winning save, goal here
“I wasn’t really thinking. It just kinda happened,” the senior keeper said. “In my head it was like, “I make this save and score the kick, we win the game. It’s something I’ll never forget.”
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Westlake is on to Middletown to play either Skaneateles (Section 3) at 8:45 a.m. next Saturday, but will be short-handed.
Leading scorer Gianluca Ruggiero took a red card in the first half and exited. Another top offensive player, Martin Sunjic, took a red card in the second half. Luca Mulhare also had to leave the game with a severe elbow injury.
“We did what we had to do today,” Westlake coach Joe Callagy said. “Francesco and our defense were phenomenal. We’ve played 190 consecutive minutes in the state playoffs without conceding a goal. When we went down 9 v 10, it was about holding it together and picking our spots to attack. We are known for our offense, but the defense, and it starts with our keeper, is the backbone of this team.”
Kristian Shkreli, Dylan Pray, Thomas Lyden and Thomas Giaccone are the last line of defense and they will be asked to lock down at least one more opponent.
By rule, any player who receives a red card must sit out the next game.
“It’s pretty stressful when two of your captains get reds,” Michilli said. “They’re a big part of the team, but we do a good job of having each other’s backs and doing our thing.”
Giaccone, Thomas Lyden and Isaiah Ortiz each converted a penalty kick before Michilli went.
“It’s great,” Michilli said. “We’re all excited. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. It feels good because the school deserves it and we deserve it. A lot of people are on our side and rooting for us now.”
Mike Dougherty covers boys soccer, boys lacrosse, girls basketball and golf for The Journal News/lohud.com. He can be reached at mdougher@lohud.com, or on Twitter @hoopsmbd, @lohudlacrosse, @lohudhoopsmbd and @lohudgolf.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Boys soccer: Westlake advances to NYSPHSAA Class B semis via PKs
