Artur Zych humbly excepted the news of his All-American honors Wednesday night and the next day proved why he was so deserving.
The Midwood senior completed his team’s second-half surge by beating a defender around the back of the cage and scoring the winner with 8:15 left in the game. The third-seeded Hornets held on for a thrilling, 8-7 win over host and No. 2 Tottenville in the PSAL Class A boys lacrosse semifinals Thursday night.
Midwood earns a return trip to the final where it faces No. 1 Columbus at 7 p.m. Saturday at Aviator Sports Complex. The Hornets (10-4) lost to New Dorp in overtime last season, snapping a string of three straight crowns.
“He stepped up,” Midwood coach John Murphy said of Zych. “We told him it was time for the All-American to step up.”
Zych, who has 32 goals and 19 assists on the season, scored three goals and added an assist, but it was junior Blake Koch who got the rally going. He had the first and last score of a three-goal spurt over two minutes late in the third to give the Hornets a 7-6 lead heading into the fourth. Kenny Coughlin tied the score at 7 for Tottenvillle, which beat Midwood, 9-8 and then 15-4, in the regular season. Cody Rivera scored twice for the Pirates (10-4), who were called for offsides on their final possession with 30 seconds left in in the game.
“The advantage we had in this game was that they were overconfident because of how they beat us during the regular season,” Murphy said of Tottenville. … “I’m happy for [our] kids that their hard work paid off.”
Columbus 6, Cardozo 5: Billy Nguyen scored four goals for top-seeded Columbus (12-2) in the PSAL Class A semifinals. Admir Sabovic added two goals and Paul Piquero had two assists. Ardijan Novaj made 10 saves for the Explorers, who are making their first championship game appearance. They play No. 3 Midwood at 7 p.m. Saturday at Aviator Sports Complex. Jason Chen led No. 4 Cardozo (7-7) with two goals.
CLASS B
Long Island City 8, Lehman 6: Alessandro Vicari tallied five goals and dished out three assists for No. 2 Long Island City (11-3) in the PSAL Class B semifinals. Mike Cando scored twice and Roberto Pinarrieta added a goal. Eamonn Duggan made 25 saves. LIC plays No. 1 Curtis in the final at 3 p.m. Saturday at Aviator Sports Complex. No. 3 Lehman is 10-4.
Curtis 16, Stuyvesant 9: Mike Saltarelli tallied four goals and had two assists for No. 1 Curtis in the PSAL Class B semifinals. Barkel Foster scored twice and Zack Hunold made 12 saves. The Warriors play No. 2 LIC in the final at 3 p.m. Saturday at Aviator Sports Complex.
GIRLS CLASS A
Tottenville 12, Frederick Douglass 6: Megan Kane had four goals and two assists and Dana Coscia tallied four goals and an assist for No. 1 Tottenville (13-1) in the PSAL Class A semifinals. The Pirates scored eight times in the second half after leading just 4-2 at the break. Danielle Langan made eight saves. No. 4 Frederick Douglass is 9-4.
Beach Channel 11, Midwood 2: Cynithia Smalls scored five goals for second-seeded and defending champion Beach Channel (12-2) in the PSAL Class A semifinals. Idalia Viard had three goals, Tolagbe Olatunbosun added two ad Whitney Brown had a goal and an assist. The Dolphins play No. 1 Tottenville in the final 5 p.m. Saturday at Aviator Sports Complex. No. 3 Midwood is 10-4.