Ashley Castanio-Gervasi had every reason to smile over this soccer surprise.
The Long Beach girls soccer coach, who drew international attention around Christmas for her stop-and-start chance at a $100,000 field goal during a Jets game, is headed back to MetLife Stadium — this time under far happier circumstances.
Castanio-Gervasi, a former goalkeeper at Stony Brook, was back at her alma mater watching the United States defeat Paraguay, 4-1, when she received an unexpected gift: tickets from New York State to a World Cup round-of-16 match.
“It’s all funny that it came full circle there,” she told The Post, laughing about the turn of events.
She had joined several other youth soccer coaches onstage at her old field during a large watch party, believing she was simply being recognized for her contributions to the local soccer community.
Even with the surprise announcement, her brief brush with Jets-related fame remained a major talking point as the group received the news through the YMCA.
“It was funny because when I was on the stage, one of the other coaches was like, ‘You look really familiar,’ ” she recalled. “Then he put two and two together.”
In a twist, the very role that once complicated her field-goal attempt — her status as a coach, which created an insurance issue last December — became the reason she was chosen this time after her mother submitted a video on her behalf.
“Isn’t that ironic?” said the mom-to-be, who once traveled to Canada to see the U.S. women’s team play. “Now soccer got me probably one of the most memorable experiences I’ll have in my life with my mom at MetLife.”
