Fordham Prep Soccer - Pat's Senior Year
The Fordham Prep soccer team had a great 2010 fall season with Pat as its starting goalkeeper. The team played to a 14-2-3 record, winning the NY Archdiocesan title. Along the way the New York Post named Pat it's "Athlete of the Week." Here's some of the media coverage of the season, with links to the original posts, although those may eventually cease to work.
Updated: Wed., Nov. 3, 2010, 5:02 PM
By DYLAN BUTLER
Last Updated: 5:02 PM, November 3, 2010
Posted: 5:00 PM, November 3, 2010
In the crapshoot that is the penalty kick shootout, with the attacking player standing just 12 yards away with an entire net to shoot at, the goalkeeper is supposed to be at a disadvantage.
Someone forgot to tell that to Pat Civetta.
In two tension-filled shootouts in less than a week, the Fordham Prep goalkeeper has come up huge, helping lift the Rams to their first CHSAA Archdiocesan title since 2007 and into the Class A intersectional final for the fourth time in five years. Not too bad for someone who has never faced a penalty-kick shootout in his high school career before.
“He was great,” Fordham Prep coach Pete McNamara said after his team defeated Archbishop Molloy in the Class A semifinals Tuesday night. “He’s done it now twice against good shooters, good teams, in high-pressure situations and he’s calm, a smart kid. He was tremendous.”
After serving as an apprentice of sorts under Christian Quinttus last year, Civetta took the reigns as the Rams starting goalkeeper this year and has run with it. He has a 0.22 goals against average and has 12 clean sheets.
While Civetta has been aided by a stout defense that features Mark Kramarchuk and Kyle O’Keefe, Civetta raised his game in the Rams biggest games of the season. In the Archdiocesan final against archrival Iona Prep at Murphy Field, Civetta dived to his right to rob Oscar DeLeon on Iona Prep’s first shot and then, with Fordham Prep leading 2-1, he lunged to his left to stop Kyle Hughes shot.
“It was fantastic,” McNamara said after the game. “I was very impressed with how he saved those two.”
Civetta recorded a shutout in a 1-0 win against Xavier in the quarterfinals on Sunday and two days later he came up huge in another penalty-kick shootout against Archbishop Molloy, the two-time defending Class A intersectional champions.
With added confidence from his success against the Gaels, Civetta made a pivotal save on the Stanners third attempt, robbing Michael Rodriguez.
“It helped a lot,” Civetta said. “I felt like I’ve done it before and hopefully I can come up big again and luckily I did.”
Civetta has another chance to come up big Sunday when Fordham Prep meets Iona Prep for a fourth time this season, this time for the Class A intersectional title.
“We’ve worked so hard all year long,” Civetta said. “It feels good that it’s finally coming together and we’re getting what we deserve.”
(NYPost photo by Brit Worgan)
Updated: Wed., Nov. 3, 2010, 4:24 PM
By DYLAN BUTLER
Last Updated: 4:24 PM, November 3, 2010
Posted: 1:43 AM, November 3, 2010
As he prepared to take the biggest shot of his life, Mark Higgins got some last-second words of advice from close friend Nihad Musovic.
“He told me to be confident and said you got this,” Higgins said.
With the pressure mounting, the Fordham Prep junior buried his attempt in a penalty-kick shootout that sent the Rams to the CHSAA Class A intersectional title game for the fourth time in five years.
“I was pretty confident going up to it, but there was a lot of pressure because fifth [shooter], big crowd, but I went up there, tried to stay as composed as I could and took the shot,” Higgins said.
After playing Archbishop Molloy to a 1-1 draw after 100 minutes, Fordham Prep defeated the Stanners, 4-3, on penalties in the Class A intersectional semifinals Tuesday night at Belson Stadium.
Fordham Prep will face rival Iona Prep in the final Sunday at St. John’s University. The Gaels defeated St. Francis Prep on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
“It was great. I was so happy knowing we beat Molloy,” Higgins said. “Last year they beat us in the second period of overtime, 1-0 [in the Class A semifinals]. It was great to know that we finally won this year.”
While Higgins scored the winning goal, Fordham Prep (14-1-3), ranked No. 3 in the city by The Post, wouldn’t have won if not for Pat Civetta. A week after making two saves against Iona Prep during a penalty-kick shootout to decide the Archdiocesan final, the senior goalkeeper made a critical save, robbing Michael Rodriguez on No. 5 Molloy’s third attempt after Giancarlo Maurello and Stephen Buckley scored for the Stanners.
“He was great,” Fordham Prep coach Pete McNamara said. “He’s done it now twice against good shooters, good teams, in high-pressure situations and he’s calm, a smart kid. He was tremendous.”
Civetta said he gained a lot of confidence from the Archdiocesan final, when he saved attempts from Iona Prep’s Oscar DeLeon and Kyle Hughes.
“It helped a lot,” he said. “I felt like I’ve done it before and hopefully I can come up big again and luckily I did.”
With the shootout knotted at 2, Musovic stepped up with a chance to put Fordham ahead, but he put his shot off the crossbar. Molloy co-captain Sebastian Altomarino buried his shot, as did Fordham Prep’s co-captain Mike McNamara, putting a slow roller past Maurello, who replaced Pat Kelleher in net.
“He actually was the best at stopping penalty shots,” Molloy coach Andy Kostel said of Maurello. “I wanted him to take his penalty shot and then relax. The second one up the middle is one he should have saved.”
Chris Zappel put his attempt wide of goal, setting up Higgins with a chance to clinch the victory for Fordham Prep.
“We’ve worked so hard all year long and it feels good that it’s finally coming together and we’re getting what we deserve,” Civetta said.
Spencer Heitmann put Fordham Prep in front on eight minutes, following up his own rebound, but Molloy (12-3-2) leveled the match with 17 seconds left in the first half on a low shot from Zach Zayas.
While the Stanners had the better of play in the second half, neither team was able to get a decisive goal and the game went to the dreaded penalty-kick shootout and that’s when Molloy’s run for a third consecutive Class A intersectional title came up short.
“I’m thrilled with these kids,” Kostel said. “I thought they played real hard and gave themselves a shot to try and go to win a championship. They were very much focused on that and I give them a lot of credit for that.”
By Brian Heyman • November 1, 2010
NEW YORK — The sun glistened off the East River Sunday afternoon just beyond Reinhart Field, sitting virtually in the shadow of the Throgs Neck Bridge on the SUNY Maritime campus. It was a postcard setting for a boys soccer playoff game between Fordham Prep and Xavier.
But oh that wind.
"In the first half, we didn't have that many chances," said Mark Kramarchuk, the Rams' senior center back from Mount Vernon. "The wind was against us."
The stiff wind was with them in the second half. And when Nihad Musovic scored with 27:19 to go, it was going to be hard for Xavier to come back.
So after 80 minutes, there was Fordham Prep, posing for a happy team picture. Two more wins and the smiles will be even wider. The second-seeded Rams emerged with a 1-0 victory over the fifth-seeded Knights in the CHSAA Class A intersectional quarterfinals.
This New York Archdiocesan championship team, which is made up of players primarily from Westchester, advanced to Tuesday's semifinals at St. John's University against No. 3 Molloy, an overtime winner over Fordham Prep in the semis last year but a 2-0 loser when the teams met on Oct. 5.
"We're all best friends," said Musovic, a senior striker from Yonkers. "We joke. It's the fun that brought us to this point. We want to do it for ourselves because we're having so much fun. Why stop?"
The Rams are now up to 13-1-3 in this fun run. They are chasing their first city title since 2007.
"They're very organized," Xavier coach Joe Balsamo said after his Knights had ended their run at 9-5-3.
Still, this wasn't the easiest of games for Fordham Prep after claiming the Archdiocesan crown vs. Iona Prep five days earlier.
"We play so much better normally," coach Pete McNamara said. "I thought we were a little flat today after the championship game. ... This is always a tense one, the quarterfinals."
Musovic eased some of the tension.
Dylan Cope took the Rams' third corner kick in the first 13 minutes of the second half. And he sent it perfectly into the box to Musovic, who headed the ball past goalkeeper James Kondrat from about 10 yards out.
It would have been only the tying goal, but Xavier just missed connecting with senior striker Mark Fronterre at the right doorstep late in the first half.
Pat Civetta, Fordham Prep's senior goalkeeper from Scarsdale, was called upon to make just two saves, none in the second half.
"We work hard," Civetta said. "We're a really close group. There are a lot of the same guys from last year, so we've all been together and we're playing well. Hopefully we can go as far as what's meant to be."
Updated: Thu., Oct. 28, 2010, 1:03 AM
By DYLAN BUTLER
Last Updated: 1:03 AM, October 28, 2010
Posted: 1:02 AM, October 28, 2010
After playing more than four hours of scoreless soccer this season, including 100 tense, physical and scintillating minutes Wednesday at Murphy Field, it seemed a foregone conclusion that the Archdiocesan final between rivals Fordham Prep and Iona Prep would be decided by penalty kicks.
Finally, it seemed, there would be an advantage. Iona Prep has the league’s best goalkeeper in junior Alex Kapp and Fordham Prep’s first-year keeper Patrick Civetta had never been in a penalty kick shootout in high school.
However, it was Civetta who came up huge, making two saves during the shootout as the Rams captured the Archdiocesan title, 3-2, on penalty kicks. It is Fordham Prep’s sixth title in eight years. Iona Prep won the previous two championships.
“It was great, it felt awesome,” Civetta said. “I was so excited. It was good we got the championship back to Fordham. We made a mission at the beginning of the year to get it and so far, so good.”
While Iona Prep (9-3-5), ranked No. 4 in the CHSAA by The Post, might have had an edge in goalkeepers, No. 2 Fordham Prep coach Pete McNamara said he had full confidence in his penalty takers.
“I know the five shooters I had out there, every one of them are exceptional on penalty kicks,” he said. “I said to them before, ‘This is a great group of shooters.’ They smiled.”
McNamara was hoping Civetta, who has been improving on penalty kicks in practice, would just make one save. But the senior did even better.
“It was fantastic,” he said. “I was very impressed with how he saved those two.”
Civetta dived to his right to make a pivotal stop on Iona Prep’s first attempt by Oscar DeLeon. Fordham Prep’s Mark Kramarchuck and Nihad Musovic both scored on their attempts and Brian Kenny buried his opportunity.
With Fordham Prep (12-1-3) leading 2-1, Civetta came up huge again, lunging to his left to deny Iona Prep’s Kyle Hughes. Dylan Cope, though, couldn’t capitalize and put his shot wide of the net. J.R. Gallery leveled the shootout at 2 for Iona Prep, sending Fordham Prep co-captain Michael McNamara to the spot.
Two minutes before halftime, Michael McNamara was bloodied and badly bruised under his right eye after Kenny missed an attempted bicycle kick and inadvertentlystruck him in the face. The engine of Fordham Prep’s midfield was forced to leave the game, but returned for the start of the second half.
“I couldn’t see,” Michael McNamara said. “I still can’t see that well. I was afraid that all my vision would be gone because it was swelling up really fast.”
Despite his blurred vision, he was still able to put his shot low and to the right of Kapp, putting all the pressure on Iona Prep’s Cesar Ceja. Civetta guessed wrong and dived to his left, but the most dangerous attacking player in the CHSAA, who missed a sitter in the 20th minute, put his shot off target.
“I was upset, I thought I missed it,” Civetta said. “I guessed the wrong way and I thought it went in, but I saw it roll down and everyone was cheering.”
While the large student fan base, which stood along the sideline opposite the benches, rushed the field to join in a wild celebration, the Iona Prep players were devastated by the defeat.
“I’m probably prouder today than I was the day we won the state championship, to be quite honest with you,” Iona Prep coach Marcos Monteagudo said. “Coming to Fordham Prep and playing in front of that raucous crowd and while not dominating the game by any stretch of the imagination, but maybe being the better team shows a lot about my boys. It really does.”
Both teams advance to the Class A intersectional quarterfinals on Sunday at Maritime College in The Bronx. Fordham Prep takes on Xavier, while Iona Prep meets Christ the King. Should a Brooklyn/Queens team win the intersectional title, Fordham Prep would compete in the CHSAA state tournament by virtue of its dramatic win against Iona Prep.
“I wanted to win so badly,” Michael McNamara said. “It feels so good to be back in this game. It was a good game, Iona Prep played really well.”
(NY Post photo by Damion Reid)
