(Riverdale, NY) - The more she develops as a veteran college soccer player, the more it is becoming clear that
Jamie Longo (Concord, MA/Concord-Carlisle HS) will one day be remembered as one of the great big-game performers in Mount Saint Vincent Women's Soccer history. For the second time this season, the Mount hosted Medgar Evers on Thursday, but this time the stakes were higher as the game was the Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference (HVWAC) Semifinals. And for the second time this season, the game went into overtime ... in fact, it went into a second overtime. And for the second time this season, it was Longo's heroics that sent the Dolphins home happy as her magic touch struck again. Longo's second goal of the game, just over two minutes into the second overtime, gave Mount Saint Vincent a dramatic 2-1 victory and sent the Mount to the HVWAC Championship Game to be played this Sunday against top-seeded College of Staten Island at CSI.
Staten Island advanced with a 9-0 win over Saint Elizabeth in the other HVWAC Semifinal game.
It was a contest eerily similar to the last time the teams met as Medgar Evers (9-8) struck early and took a 1-0 lead on a Fabienne Alexandre goal in the 31st minute. At that point, the Cougars had dominated play as they outshot the Mount, 17-5 during the early going. The game remained close thanks to the stellar play of Dolphin keeper Alexis Alessi (Rockville Centre, NY/Oceanside HS), who made 10 saves during the first half of play, and Medgar Evers led only 1-0 at the break despite a major edge in shots, possession, and overall play.
The second half was a different story as the Mount turned their game up a notch and put the Cougars on their heels. Mount Saint Vincent had a 9-7 shooting advantage during the final 45 minutes of regulation, and came close to scoring several times, but Megar Evers held each time. Finally, in the 68th minute, a Medgar Evers foul gave Dolphin junior Cynthia Osorio (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside HS) a free kick from just to the left of the box. Osorio connected, and sophomore Jessica McBain (Troy, NY/Troy HS) rifled a pass to Longo, who scored her sixth goal of the year to tie the game at 1.
The two teams battled for the final 22 minutes of regulation, a battle that included two occasions where Medgar Evers hit the cross-bar, but neither team found the winning goal. And when the first overtime ended without a solid scoring chance for either team, it appeared as if penalty kicks were imminent.
That was until Longo stepped in.
Just over two minutes into the second overtime, another Medgar Evers foul gave Osorio a similar opportunity to the one that led to the game tying goal ... and the Osorio-Longo combination paid off yet again. Osorio's kick was misplayed by Cougar goalie Charlene Brown, and the loose ball was fired into an open net by Longo, giving the Mount the victory.
Overall, Medgar Evers enjoyed a 26-20 shooting advantage, and each team took four corner kicks. Alessi finished the day with 14 saves, while Brown was nearly equal to the task, making 13 saves.
Sunday's HVWAC Championship Game marks a rematch of the 2005 title game that saw the second-seeded Dolphins score a 1-0 win. The teams met on Oct. 16 with CSI winning 3-0 to clinch the HVWAC Regular Season crown. The kickoff for Sunday's game will be 2:00 p.m.
