Two days removed from the Hawks’ tough loss at home vs. Grover Cleveland, the Hawks hit the road to face the Richmond Hill Lions at Victory Field on October 2. For the third time this year, the Hawks went into overtime, but for the first time they came out on top, by a score of 3-2.
The difference in this game, senior Daniel Yacar said “is that we played our own game and we dictated the pace of the game; we did not play to the other team’s level.”
The game started off with the Lions scoring, putting the Hawks at an early deficit. The Hawks responded with sophomore Branco Montero receiving a throw-in from Daniel, and scoring, putting the Hawks on the board.
Branco now has four goals on the season to lead the Hawks which he says “just shows that I work really hard and want to keep helping the team out.”
The Lions rebounded with a goal to take a 2-1 lead. Then, Daniel took matters into his own hands by getting the ball 40 yards from the box, getting himself open, and scoring, which tied up the game at 2.
No more goals were scored in regulation, sending the Hawks into their third overtime game of the season. In the previous two overtime games, both ten minute overtime periods were needed to determine if the games would end as draws. In this game, however, the Hawks wasted no time.
In the first minute of overtime, Branco sent a great pass to senior Michael Jazgarski who kept the ball away from the defenders and then took a shot that was low enough to get past the goalie to win the game for the Hawks 3-2.
On his goal, Michael said, “It means a lot that I scored in overtime because we played really good soccer. It also helped me develop more confidence to take meaningful shots when I can.”
The Hawks put themselves right back in the mix for the top two spots of the Queens B III Division. The Hawks are now tied with Metropolitan Campus for second place with 11 points, and both teams are trailing division-leading High School for Arts & Business which has 15 points.
Daniel said, “We are definitely more comfortable in our place right now in our standings.”
Michael added “I think we’re really heading in the right direction.”
