H.S. SOCCER
Molloy 3
Holy Cross 0
Oscar Leis had never taken a penalty kick for Archbishop Molloy, but after showing off his skills during practice, head coach Andy Kostel tabbed the junior to take one yesterday in the 47th minute of the CHSAA city title game.
“I wanted to switch it up,” Kostel said. “And I knew Oscar could do it. We’ve had a lot of guys do things for us this year, today was Oscar’s day.”
Leis didn’t disappoint, as he deposited the ball in the back of the net to give Molloy a 1-0 lead over Holy Cross after Molloy’s Chris Miller had been taken down in front of the goal. The score gave the Stanners control of the match and they went on to win 3-0 at St. John’s Belson Stadium to capture their 11th city title and first since 1996.
Molloy next plays Canisius on Friday in the state semifinal. The winner of tonight’s Chaminade-St. Anthony’s Long Island CHSAA championship takes on Fordham Prep in the other semifinal.
“There was pressure on me during that kick,” said Leis. “But I put everything out of my mind and just thought about scoring. I knew that if I did, we’d win.”
Leis, however, didn’t stop there. Six minutes later, after he carried the ball down the field, he found fellow junior Jorge Mora, who ripped a goal to put Molloy up 2-0 in the 53rd minute.
Matt Santalesa ended the scoring with a goal in the 75th minute.
The most important penalty was the one Leis took advantage of.
“The Holy Cross guys were talking trash to me before I took the kick,” Leis said. “I tried not to let that effect me.”
To prevent that, Kostel visited Leis before he took the kick, trying to calm him.
“I brought him over to see Chris just to get him to think about something else,” Kostel said.
It worked.
“I saw Chris bleeding near his eye and tried to relax,” Leis said. “The game was riding on that and in a game this big, you don’t want to mess anything up.”
He made sure it stood up with his assist later.
“I saw Jorge by himself and if I got the ball to him, he was going to score,” Leis said. “We have so much faith in everyone on this team.”
That team was able to break an eight-year run in which Kostel wasn’t able to win the city title.
Molloy did win the state championship in 2001 after losing to Monsignor Farrell in the city championship, but Kostel was pleased to get another city title.
“It’s not an easy thing to do,” Kostel said. “So it wasn’t that frustrating, but it’s great that we’re here again.”
Especially for Leis.
“We always hear about the titles that they’ve won here,” Leis said. “We talked about that all the time before this game and how much it meant to get us back here. I’m proud to be part of another one.”
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Port Richmond likely secured a spot in the PSAL football playoffs, which begin next week, with a 20-12 win yesterday over Bayside. Cameron McKinney threw a 30-yard pass to Lamont Griffin on a flea flicker in the fourth quarter for the winning score.
Brandon Davis led Port Richmond’s offense with 117 yards on 21 carries, while QB Nick DelJudice threw a pair of touchdowns.