Floral Park defeats St. John the Baptist at Firebird Invitational to remain undefeated on season
Floral Park’s Parker Lee maintains possession in the midfield against St. John the Baptist during Kellenberg's third annual Firebird Invitational on Sunday. Credit: Newsday/Michael Sicoli
Floral Park’s boys soccer team hasn’t tasted defeat yet, and that continued Sunday as the Knights defeated St. John the Baptist, 2-1, at Kellenberg’s Firebird Invitational.
Preston Sotirhos scored the opening goal in the eighth minute, crashing a save made by St. John the Baptist’s Cole Vitolano to deny a header from Floral Park’s James Black. The Knights (6-0-1) dominated possession in the first half with help from midfielder Parker Lee.
“We started the year with five captains and after two, three weeks, Parker was named as one of the captains just from his hard work,” Floral Park coach Ahkeel Rodney said.
Joseph Donovan assisted David O’Shea less than two minutes into the second half.
“Energy was low [in the first half],” O’Shea said. “We came out with energy in the second half, and that’s why my goal came.”
St. John the Baptist (2-3) responded just minutes later as Jeyeon Kim scored off a pass from Giovanni Maestranzi. The Cougars played a strong second half but struggled to put one past Floral Park goalkeeper Kaden Sy.
“Today was probably our best performance so far of the season,” St. John the Baptist coach Noah Molina said. “We were moving the ball much better. I’m happy with it.”
Michael Sicoli covers high school sports for Newsday. He graduated from Quinnipiac in 2022 and left with a master’s degree in sports journalism in 2023.
