Zvi, Rezin help put GN South in final
Great Neck South's Jonathan Zvi, left, gets congratulated by teammate Ben Todaro after scoring his second goal of the game. (Nov. 6, 2011) Credit: James Escher
Jonathan Zvi nimbly circumvented defenders and made a charge up the end line. The Great Neck South junior forward saw teammate William Rezin, fired the ball across the box and Rezin buried it into the net.
"He takes men on left and right down that line," Rezin said of Zvi. "He was cutting in and I made eye contact with him, got to the penalty spot, saw a nice driven ball right across and had to finish it. [I] had to put it in the back of the net."
Zvi had two goals and an assist and Rezin had two goals for No. 10 Great Neck South in its 5-1 victory over No. 6 Hempstead in a Nassau Class AA boys soccer semifinal Sunday at Mitchel Athletic Complex.
The Rebels (10-7-1) advance to the final for the first time in nearly 40 years, according to coach James Millevoi. They will play top-seeded Hicksville on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Hofstra.
"Nobody expected us to be here as a 10 seed," Millevoi said. "Here we are. We've won three in a row and we're going to have our toughest game of the season, I'm sure, coming up."
Ivis Manzanarez scored on a penalty kick in the 13th minute for Hempstead (9-4-2).
Rezin scored off Zvi's pass in the 21st minute to tie the game at 1 and scored the go-ahead goal in the 52nd minute.
Robert Friedner scored off a rebound in the 56th minute and Zvi added two goals in the final 20 minutes to end any chance of a Hempstead comeback.
With the game tied at 1 at halftime, Millevoi made a few adjustments that proved immediately beneficial.
"I told them 'they're pushing it up to midfield, playing flat across. As ugly as it may be, just play the ball simple and forward and you'll have breakaway after breakaway,' and that's exactly what happened," he said. "It's a very simple, ugly brand of soccer but it works for us."
