S.F. Prep sweeps St. Mike’s, claims district

Blue Griffins’ coach consoles Horseman goalie after misplayed ball in overtime delivers win, playoff berth

The immediate aftermath of Santa Fe Prep’s boys soccer team rallying from a two-goal deficit to beat St. Michael’s in sudden-death overtime on Tuesday afternoon wasn’t the celebration it touched off on the Blue Griffins’ sideline.

It also wasn’t in the realization that Prep had just nailed down the District 2-1A/3A championship and earned an automatic berth in the state semifinals next week.

Instead, it came in a quiet moment of sportsmanship offered in a kind and compassionate gesture from Prep coach Hersch Wilson. While his players reveled in a 3-2 win that completed a season sweep of their crosstown rivals, Wilson jogged diagonally across the field to put his arm around St. Michael’s goalkeeper Daniel Dominguez.

A junior who played a key role in lifting the Horsemen to the state championship in 2019, Dominguez had just misplayed a ball tapped back to him by one of his teammates less than two minutes into the extra session. Coming out to meet the slow-rolling pass, he had the ball squirt right past him as he went to clear it.

Before he had a chance to chase it down, it was in the back of the net to put a stunning end to a game that, until that point, was dominated by the wind.

“You know, my heart goes out to that kid,” Wilson said. “We’ve all been there in some capacity. Every one of us has had a moment like that and it’s no fun. I just wanted to tell him that he’s a great player and to not let that one play get to him. It’s a sucky way to lose but I told him he’s just a great player.”

Tuesday’s match was a must-win for the Horsemen. Beaten by Prep in another golden-goal OT thriller earlier in the season, they needed to win the rematch by at least two goals to get the tiebreaker edge over Prep in the race for the district’s automatic bid to state.

St. Michael’s scored twice in the first half and had at least four other solid opportunities turned aside by the brilliant play of Prep keeper Xander Hnasko.

He was peppered with shots in the first half as a steady wind blew straight at him out of the west.

The conditions killed every ball kicked into the wind, allowing the team going to the eastern side of the field a huge advantage. The Horsemen took it, getting goals from Aiden Fairchild and

Oliver Rosales to open a 2-0 lead at halftime.

With field position flipped for the second half, it was the Griffins’ turn to go on the offensive. They did just that, blistering a handful of shots at Dominguez in the final 40 minutes. What Hnasko did in the first half, Dominguez did in the second by rising to the challenge again and again.

Mike Vimont got Prep’s first goal in the 49th minute, but the second didn’t come until four minutes were left in regulation. With the wind at his back, Sam Little had a throw-in near the Horsemen bench. The ball flew over the top of everyone and the side judge immediately raised his offsides flag.

Dominguez and a couple other Horsemen saw it and stopped, but Vimont didn’t. He gathered himself and lined a chest-high shot just to the right of Dominguez. The lead official ruled it a goal, telling St. Michael’s coach Mike Felderwert there is no offsides on throw-ins.

“We tell the guys to play to the whistle and to his credit, [the ref] never blew it,” Felderwert said. “It was just a confusing deal. There was a question whether the ball hit someone first, but they say it didn’t.”

Then came the golden goal in overtime, the one that punched Prep’s ticket to the state tournament — and the only goal scored on the west end of the field.

“One of the things I love about this team is the text thread we have with the players,” Wilson said. “We’re on that thing every day, and the way these guys communicate is such a strength.”

Prep (5-3) will find out who it will play in the tournament when pairings are announced Sunday.