Carle Place boys fall on penalty kicks in state regional soccer

Carle Place’s bid for a trip to the state boys soccer championships ended in overtime Saturday, but the Frogs put up one heck of a fight in their Class B regional championship game at Berner Middle School in Massapequa.

On two occasions, they answered with a goal after falling behind to Briarcliff. The effort was enough to send the game to overtime at 2-2.  Despite creating a better set of chances there, the game went to penalty kicks  

The Frogs lost the shootout, 5-4,  to the Westchester County school. Both earned a share of the regional title, but Briarcliff will move on to next weekend's state finals.

“I told the team, ‘you can be upset about not advancing, but don’t be upset because of the effort,’ ” coach Allen Foraker said. “The effort was there like it had been all year. Losing in PKs in the regional final is nothing to be ashamed of."

Marc Chiappone scored both goals for Carle Place (9-2-3) in regulation and his penalty kick in the shootout gave the Frogs a 4-3 edge, but Briarcliff responded with a tying kick, a save and the winning shot from Elias Hoffner.

Briarcliff opened the scoring 26 minutes into the game with a goal from Alex Cabeca, but Carle Place answered 13 minutes later with a Chiappone goal off a free kick.

The strike got Carle Place back into the match that Briarcliff was controlling early, as the Frogs were outshot 9-3 at halftime.

Carle Place flipped the script after the break, and had a 7-3 advantage in shots in the second half, but still trailed after Alex Benson scored with 20 minutes left.

Showing the effort Foraker spoke about, the Frogs ramped up the pressure and won another set piece opportunity for Chiappone, who converted with 16:22 to level the score.

“They’ve been resilient all year,” Foraker said. “There’s a ton of fight of them. People might say we were one of the toughest teams in the county because there was no give-up and a ton of heart.”

In overtime, Carle Place created a number of good chances from close range, including a breakaway, but could not convert, sending the match to a shootout.

Briarcliff keeper Andrew Kanovsky stopped the Frogs’ first spot kick, before Carlos Salgado, Gio Fabiano, Kevin Graca, and Chiappone scored.

The Westchester side converted its first two penalties before missing its third, but made its fourth and fifth to keep its chances alive.

In the sudden death portion of the shootout, Kanovsky made another save, setting up Hoffner, whose strike ended the match.

Said Foraker: “PKs are a tough way to lose, so it’s unfortunate for the group, but they gave it their all. I’m super proud of them.”