Cardinals Advance to Next Round

After last Saturday, the Prospect Heights boys soccer team needed to make a statement.

They did so Wednesday night in a convincing 3-1 victory over the School of the Future Bulldogs, reminding high school soccer teams across the city why the Cardinals were considered one of the favorites .

"We played very well today against a tough team," said co-Head Coach Albert Berger.  "The passing was very crisp and we played with a lot of energy."

For the second consecutive playoff game, junior forward Jamie Avila struck the back of the net in the first half, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.  Avila's second goal of the playoffs was the start of a great afternoon for the Prospect Heights junior class. Later in the half fellow junior Jerry Gaston netted another goal for Prospect Heights. They led 2-0 headed into the half.

In the second half, the Cardinals continued their smooth play, relentlessly attacking the Bulldogs, who went 11-2 in the regular season and finished second in the Manhattan B 1 Division. Prospect Heights recorded 30 shots on goal, including nine by star Fernando Escalona. Eventually, Carl Anderson beat the Bulldogs' defense to score his third goal of the postseason and the Cardinals' third of the game.

Coach Berger and coach Hayden Grant decided to rest their starters with a three-goal advantage in order to give the younger players some much needed playoff experience.  The bench did not score another goal and would allow a goal on a penalty kick late in the half as Prospect Heights held on for a 3 to 1 victory.

The decisive win places the Cardinals in the finals of the B Division "A" Bracket and one win away from being a member of the final four teams competing for a city championship.

Prospect Heights will now face the top-seeded Campus Magnet Bulldogs in the next round. It will be the third of three postseason games in which they have faced an opponent named the Bulldogs.

Campus Magnet finished 12-0 and were champions of the Queens B 1 Division.  The Cardinals defeated Campus Magnet in the playoffs two seasons ago and are hoping for similar success in 2010.

Although the players and coaching staff were very excited about the win over the School of The Future, .

"With the current playoff format you play very good teams very quickly," said Berger.  "So we have to be ready to go."

The date and time of Prospect Heights' game against Campus Magnet has not been set.