North Shore tops Kennedy on late goal

Both the North Shore Vikings and Bellmore-JFK Cougars received an early dismissal Oct. 23 to give way to the first round of the Nassau Class A boys’ soccer playoffs, where the hosting North Shore eked out a 1-0 victory in a nailbiter in Glen Head.

Despite a two-man disadvantage, North Shore’s Chris Rasizzi collected a cross from Devon Seneca and netted it with 58 seconds left in regulation to exhilarate the home crowd.

For much of the first half, No. 13-seed North Shore was efficient at keeping possession of the ball and pushing past No. 19-seed Bellmore midfielders often. Vikings’ junior Nick Fraser used his blinding pace to win 50/50 balls and keep the Cougars honest in the first half.

The Cougars’, however, did a great job of keeping sophomore sensation Seneca in check for the entirety of the first half. Cougars’ coach Ari Bisk was sure to gameplan around denying the ball to Seneca, North Shore’s leading scorer (11 goals), and forcing other Vikings to make plays. Bellmore’s senior defender Pierce Infuso anchored the defense well in the first half before becoming more offensive-minded in the second.

“(Infuso) was their best player and he was starting to get forward more in the second half,” North Shore coach Mike Bishop said. “We did a good job being able to deal with it.”

The Cougars started to capitalize more on their counters towards the end of the first half, and were seeing some real opportunities to push the ball into the box as a result of some more decisive passing. Bellmore’s final opportunity of the first half came with two minutes left in the result of a corner kick, which they were unsuccessful in converting.

In the opening minute of the second half, North Shore’s Nick Suraci earned a costly yellow card, followed by his teammate Christian O’Hara earning a yellow card just three minutes later. Roughly twenty minutes later, Suraci and O’Hara were given their second yellow cards in tandem during a dead-ball shoving match, earning them both the boot from the game and giving the Bellmore a two-man advantage for the remaining 18 minutes.

Bisk responded to the two-man advantage by letting Infuso push upfield more often to give the Cougars better chances at net. Bellmore’s Connor Their saw maybe JFK’s best opportunity at the halfway mark of the second half, but was unable to capitalize.

“Connor had a chance in the second half, but was unable to finish,” Bisk said. “Joe Balik made some good saves in net, but we just weren’t able to capitalize with the advantage. I am proud of them.”

North Shore was able to capitalize off of a counter attack with just under two minutes left to go, leading to the game-winning goal.

“We were able to stay composed and compact defensively,” Rasizzi said. “Devon Seneca gave me a great ball over to the left side of the net and I was able to take a rip.”

Bishop, reflecting after the game on his team’s composure and eventual game-sealing goal, summed it up in short: “Remarkable effort.”