Soccer Rams & Lady Rams lose in playoffs by identical 1-0 scores

They call it the golden goal in soccer—only it wasn't so golden for the Port Chester Lady Rams.

And it was also the goose that laid the golden egg for the Rams, the egg here being zero as in shutout—and that's no yolk despite the color.

By any other name or color, both the Rams and Lady Rams got into the post-season Section One Class AA playoffs coming from different directions. And both got knocked out in the first round by identical 1-0 scores in away games.

Yet the Lady Rams’ shutout was a lot closer.

Golden goal rule

That's where the golden goal comes in.

The golden goal is a term used for the soccer equivalent of sudden death. It describes the goal that wins the match in which the scores are equal at the end of normal time.

Under the rule, the game will end when a goal or point is scored during extra time.

Timely goal

It is a rule that goes way back in time, all the way back to 1868 when the golden goal rule was used for the first time at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, England when the deciding goal was scored by a team called The Wednesday to resolve a tie in what was recorded as the world's second-ever football competition, football being the name that soccer is known by just about everywhere but in the U.S.

The gallant Lady Rams were more interested in the way their game played out along with their playoff schedule. They were originally scheduled to open against North Rockland (NR) away last Saturday (10/21) in the first round of the Section One Class AA tournament.

Seeded 15th

P.C. had barely made it into the tourney, seeded 15^th, just ahead of the out-bracket play-ins Ketcham (16) and Ossining (17). North Rockland was seeded second, just behind top-ranked Arlington. But a last-minute check of the mathematics showing the playoff qualifiers resulted in a Section One scheduling change that enabled John Jay-East Fishkill to make it into the playoffs.

By rights and seeding, the young, up-and-coming Lady Rams had no business being on the same pitch as North Rockland, so it looked as though they caught a break with the scheduling change that had them going up against JJEF at home last Friday (10/20).

But JJEF is a Dutchess County Double A North powerhouse. And were they ever.

Buck the odds

Coach Danny Alvarado's team played the heavily-favored Patriots even through regulation time. And refused to fold during two overtime 10-minute halfs. At the end of that time it was still 0-0. That meant the teams had to play two five-minute halfs. And the first team to score would win. But at the end of the second half, it was still 0-0, meaning the game was going to have to be settled by penalty kicks.

Only it wasn't. Because with 1.5 minutes left to play, JJEF finally scored.

Ever so close

"It was a golden goal, only the wrong team got it as far as Port Chester was concerned," Alvarado said shortly after the game. "It was the wrong ending for a young, rebuilding Port Chester team that really came of age in a great game that ended a great learning season."

In the cruel playoff world of one-and-done, loser goes home, the P.C. senior tri-captains Cecelia (Ceci) Martinez, the team's All-Section and All-League scoring ace who has been double and triple teamed all season long, and defensive whizzes Kiara Reyes and Brianny Marin had played their hearts out.

So did such stalwart juniors as goalie Ashley Alvarez and the hard-driving Kimberly Reyes and Katie Ribiero, sophomore co-captain Lesly Morocho, and such fast-maturing freshmen as Kelly Barrera, Jennifer (J-Lo) Lopez, Dallanara Ruano, Kayla Saavedra, Genevieve Pastena, Emily Morocho and Ashley Villagomez.

Maturing influence

Bottom line: The bulk of the baby Lady Rams will be back, albeit minus their senior mentors. Only the returnees will be a much-improved group as a result of their maturing playoff experience. So, despite being tarnished by that golden goal rule in the last minute or so against JJEF, they will emerge as a force to be reckoned with next year.

The seedings also didn't do the ninth-seeded Rams any favors because they drew Spring Valley, the eighth seed, on the Rockland County powerhouse’s home pitch. Both teams went into the playoffs on a hot streak. Alas, Spring Valley was just a touch hotter, emerging with a 1-0 win.

Empty feeling

That left an outstanding senior-dominated Rams team with an empty feeling despite the fact that they left the field having given everything they had.

Sad to say, the game could have gone either way, but that doesn't make the loss any easier to take for the Rams’ senior tri-captains Carlos Pineda and the two Ks—Kevin Umanzor and Kevin Castaneda—as well as such talented fellow seniors as Carlos Hernandez, Diego Linares, Emmanuel Gonzalez, Jessi Villa, José Javier Figueroa and Christopher Bernal.

But head coach John Cafaldo's perennially competitive Rams will have lots of returnees coming back next year including Oscar Garcia, Steven Lugo, Edgar Tellez, Gerardo Hernandez, Jakub Szwakop and Isias Argueta.

Legend grows

But still the Rams’ close playoff loss only adds to the legend of Steven Hernandez who scored the winning goal in overtime to beat Byram Hills for the Rams’ first ever sectional championship and went on to score seven more goals as a freshman during a playoff run for the ages that included several one-goal wins and came up just one goal short of the state championship in 2011.

Hernandez, now a sophomore playing for American International University on a soccer scholarship, and Jazmin (Jaz) Acosta, the Lady Rams’ all-time scoring and assists leader, is playing for St. John's University on a full soccer scholarship in ultra-competitive collegiate Division One. Now Martinez, successor to Acosta, will continue that streak by going on to play collegiate soccer for SUNY Cortland. And Cafaldo will continue his search for the next Hernandez while Alvarado looks for his next Jaz and Ceci. Chances are there may be one in the returning players named above. And hopefully any future golden goals will go their way.