Jeff Bachner/for New York Daily News
Tech’s goalie blocks a penalty kick by Geraldine Huisa to help the Engineers win a first-round PSAL Class A playoff game.
Brooklyn Tech girls soccer coach Peter Schmidt-Nowara had a simple message for his team going into a PSAL Class-A playoff matchup against Long Island City on Saturday: Defense.
“I just wanted to play it as defensively as possible,” he said after his team pulled out the victory in penalty kicks.
The Engineers, seeded 19th, stifled a skilled Long Island City attack. The game was tied 1-1 at the end of regulation and through the two overtime periods, sending it to a penalty shootout where Brooklyn Tech pulled out the victory, 8-5.
“This is my third year with the team and we’ve lost in the first round the last two years,” Schmidt-Nowara said. “It was a moral victory getting to the penalties.”
Brooklyn Tech relied on its defense and tremendous goalkeeping by Sarah Goldzweig Panitz in order to get into the extra periods.
Panitz repeatedly stopped LIC breakaways by being aggressive and using her instincts.
“If there’s a breakaway you always want to come out,” she said. “It freaks the other team out and you’re right by the ball. It’s the best possible position for a goalkeeper in that situation.”
The talented sophomore made the save of the day in the closing minutes of the second overtime, when Bulldogs’ forward Stephanie Escala weaved between defenders to take a strong, low shot. Panitz dove fully-extended, just able to get her right hand on the ball and redirecting it just wide.
“She has been doing that all season,” Schmidt-Nowara said.
After each team converted four of five penalty kicks in the shootout, LIC missed its next three shots while the Engineers calmly placed theirs into the back of the net.
LIC, seeded 14th, and coach Mark Skorupski were left wondering after the loss what their season could have been if they were healthy.
LIC was once again without starting goaltender Jan Powell, who missed most of the season with a fractured pinky. Jasmine Penvela, typically a forward, was in goal for only the second time this season. Several other players were on the field but battling ankle sprains.
“I was forced to play some girls that were not fully healed yet and it showed,” Skorupski said.
The Bulldogs finished 8-6 while Brooklyn Tech improved to 6-5-3. They’ll face Bard in the next round.
In another first-round game, New Dorp beat Townsend Harris, 4-0.
