Frank Biordi thought it was destiny.
Surely St. Francis Prep was supposed to beat Iona Prep after the Terriers co-captain scored the most unlikely equalizer imaginable. Alex Kapp, who spent the summer with the United States Under-17 national team, put a routine goal kick off the head of Jason Gonzalez. The ball caromed toward the net, where Biordi tapped it in with 1:27 left in the second half.
“I thought that was a sign it was meant to be,” he said.
Instead, St. Francis Prep suffered the agony of a penalty-kick shootout loss in the CHSAA Class A intersectional semifinals Tuesday night at Belson Stadium. The preseason favorites to win the title were bounced in a stunning upset.
“They outplayed us tonight,” St. Francis Prep coach Franco Purificato said. “They got that early goal and we were fighting back, fighting back. We got lucky. We totally outplayed them the second half and all of overtime, without a doubt.”
The Terriers (15-2-0) were reduced to 10 men when goalkeeper Joe Cala was sent off by referee Alan Wharton for abusive language toward Iona Prep’s Willya Mekolo in the 74th minute.
“He said some stuff that just killed us because we could have used him, but we can’t blame him though,” Biordi said. “We should have taken advantage.”
After Biordi’s equalizer, St. Francis Prep, ranked No. 2 in the city by The Post, dominated Iona Prep (13-2-2) during overtime and Chris Joseph, who scored a goal and set up another in a 2-0 victory against Stepinac in the quarterfinals Sunday, had a point-blank opportunity. But the junior midfielder’s shot was saved by Kapp.
The junior goalkeeper also stopped two penalty kicks during the shootout, while Christian Molano fired over the net. Biordi scored the Terriers lone goal in the first round.
“Once we scored, the jitters kicked in and they dominated the game, even with 10 men you’d have to say,” Iona Prep coach Marcos Monteagudo said. “What can you do? Soccer is sometimes not just.”
In last year’s quarterfinals, Cala was the hero, saving two penalty kicks in a shootout win against Xavier. Without his starting goalkeeper, Purificato called on backup Stephen Reid, who played well but couldn’t stop Iona Prep’s three shots during the shootout.
“We dominated with 10 players,” Biordi said. “We were fighting hard, we didn’t want to lose because this is our last season. We knew if we were going to win it was meant to be, but unfortunately we didn’t have Joe Cala in goal. Things would have been a little different.”
“We got lucky to get into overtime and then we totally outplayed them with 10 men,” Purificato said. “I guess that was our one break that we had.”
St. Francis Prep received another break two hours later when Fordham Prep defeated two-time defending champions Archbishop Molloy on penalty kicks. That means the Terriers season continues in the CHSAA state tournament. St. Francis Prep meets the Monsignor Martin winner from Buffalo in the semifinals next Thursday at Belson Stadium.
“We have to focus, start all over and put everything together,” Biordi said.