Girls Soccer: A dominant effort doesn’t yield a victory

Given the nature of the sport, not every team that dominates a soccer game emerges with a victory. 

Take, for example, second-seeded Shoreham-Wading River’s 1-0 semifinal loss to No. 3 Elwood/John Glenn in the Suffolk County Class A girls soccer tournament Friday afternoon.

The defending county champions outplayed the visitors for long stretches of the match, but could not find the back of the net.

Shoreham (13-3-1) won the League VI title, but had not beaten Glenn (12-1-2) in both of its regular-season matches, losing 1-0 and playing to a 1-1 draw.

Sophomore Stephanie Tsangaris scored in a scramble in the penalty area with 9:27 remaining in the match past sophomore goalkeeper Lydia Kessel to break the scoreless deadlock. Tsangaris, who has 12 goals this season, tallied for the second consecutive match. She connected for the game-winner in overtime in the Knights’ 1-0 win over Mount Sinai in their first playoff game on Tuesday.

Senior striker and co-captain Megan Kelly had the Wildcats’ best scoring opportunities. Kelly forced senior keeper Ameilia Biancardi to make a pair of diving saves, the first 30 seconds into the second half, the second one with 10:10 remaining in the game.

Glenn will play the winner of the match between top-seeded Islip and No. 4 Sayville at Dowling College on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Photo Caption: Shoreham-Wading River’s Haley Rose takes a shot on goal despite the presence of Daniella Keegan of Glenn. (Credit: Robert O’Rourk)