Fontbonne’s Colleen Ryan scored three times. (Damion Reid)
Colleen Ryan and Katie Henderson had a quick chat as they walked onto the full-sized field at Aviator Sports Complex. The senior duo was looking for more of the same against rival Bishop Kearney.
“We told each other we have to do our through balls,” Ryan said. “That’s what worked against Kearney before and we know we can do it again.”
They did it again and again and again.
“Just give her the space and she will do the rest,” Fontbonne coach Victor Popovsky said of Ryan.
Ryan recorded a hat trick, twice scoring on through balls from Henderson that knifed their way between the Kearney defense, as the Bonnies cruised to a 6-1 win over the Tigers in the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens girls soccer final Monday in Brooklyn. It is Fontbonne’s sixth crown in the last seven years, but that doesn’t take away any of its meaning to this group and its 10 seniors.
“Especially since it’s our senior year, I just wanted to come out and finish it strong,” said Henderson, who had a goal and four assists. “It feels really good to come out on top.”
Strong is exactly the type of start Popovsky told his team it needed prior to the game. Fontbonne (14-0-0), which won the two regular-season meetings by a combined score of 14-1, didn’t forget being upset by Kearney in the final two years ago. They also knew the Tigers (10-5-0) had come back from a two-goal deficit to beat Christ the King in the semifinals.
“I told them you got to score early,” Popovsky said. “You got to finish the game early. … The longer the game is they’re going to get more confidence, they are going to play harder and more aggressive.”
Kristiana Padavona settled a cross from Ryan and opened the scoring with a left-footed strike from the top of the box in the 15th minute. Then Henderson got going, feeding Ryan with a through ball up the middle of field. She then started the Bonnies’ prettiest score of the game with another long through ball up the left side to Padavona. The junior would send a cross to the far post to a charging Ryan, who one timed the ball in to give the Bonnies, ranked No. 2 in the city by The Post, a 3-0 lead in the 25th minute
“She got our rally started,” Ryan said of Padavona. “That’s what we needed to get our game on and get the rest of the goals in.”
Henderson added a goal by striking in a pass from younger sister Cindy in the 32nd minute and found Francis Amodeo off a corner kick to make it 5-0 three minutes later. Kearney got on the board with a 25-yard blast from Shannon Rom with a minute to play before the break. Ryan capped the scoring by running down a Katie Henderson through ball for a goal in the 56th minute.
“I even said, ‘I am going to send them to you,’ Henderson said. “That’s pretty much what we did. … She is so fast that she is just able to catch up to them”
So far no one has been able to do the same with the Bonnies.
Their next game will be against CHSAA Nassau/Suffolk winner St. Anthony’s in the state semifinals 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the College of Staten Island. The goal all season was to break through to the final and claim the crown.
“This year we have the best team that we have ever had,” Popovsky said. “I don’t see a reason why we cannot win. I think we can be able to do it this year.”