Kasi Samuda's three goals push Holy Trinity past St. John the Baptist
During the weeks and months of the COVID-19 quarantine, many players across Long Island had difficulties training against challenging competition, while keeping safe. Luckily for Kasi and Katrina Samuda, they had one another -- both with the strength, size and speed to better one another.
And their positions lined up perfectly. Kasi, a sophomore forward, and Katrina, a junior defender, for the Holy Trinity girls soccer team. The sisters trained with each other -- along with their parents -- and once they were able to take the soccer pitch with others, neither missed a beat.
"It improves both of our skills immensely because we have each other," Katrina said. "Most people don't have a sibling that’s at their level to practice with, so it just makes us better team players and players in general."
"Going against her, especially in practice when we do 1-on-1s, it’s difficult because she is very fast, but she’s also very tall and sturdy," Kasi said. "That makes it a lot more difficult to get past her, but it helps me improve my technical skills."
That ability was on display Wednesday, as Kasi scored three goals and Katrina helped limit some of the Cougars’ top playmakers as Holy Trinity defeated host St. John the Baptist, 4-2, in CHSAA girls soccer action.
Kasi scored Holy Trinity’s final three goals of the contest -- making this her fourth-straight game with at least three goals.
"She’s just so quick," coach Paul Roderick said. "Those long legs get going and she covers so much ground. She’s so quick and her finishing is so good. She doesn’t need that many chances to score."
Holy Trinity (4-1) opened the scoring with a 15-yard strike from Brooke Grossjung less than five minutes into the contest. But Katie Brennan answered 10 minutes later and tied the score at 1 for St. John the Baptist with 25:47 remaining in the opening half.
The Titans regained the lead with the first of Kasi’s three goals with a defender draped on her back. Kasi fought for positioning on a bouncing ball, controlled possession and turned and scored from 18 yards out to give Holy Trinity a 2-1 lead with 12:56 remaining in the opening half.
St. John the Baptist (0-4-1) answered again when Catherine Rezza crossed the ball to Amanda White, who headed in a goal to tie the score at 2 with 2:39 remaining in the opening half.
But Kasi scored twice in the second half for the win. Kasi had a defender on her back and turned and fired from 25 yards out for a goal less than two minutes into the second half and scored the game’s final goal with 5:12 remaining in the contest.
