East Hudson Valley Soccer League final

United and undefeated

Liberty United girls finish unblemished season at 9-0

By RICHARD A. ROSS

HARRIS, NY — Off the field, the Liberty United U-15 team, comprised of girls from Tri-Valley, Liberty, Monticello and Sullivan West, love to laugh and clown around. On the field, they play like demons.

With a convincing 6-3 win over visiting Mahopac on June 21, the ladies in red and white completed their barnstorming season in the East Hudson Valley Soccer League with 27 points and a 9-0 record. A team garners three points for each win in the standings.

Falling by the wayside were teams in Dutchess and Westchester counties including F.C. Somers, Beekman, Red Hook, LaGrange, Mahopac and Poughkeepsie.

Coming into the final game, Rebecca Scherer of Liberty High School was the team’s leading scorer. Scherer wasted no time in adding to her pre-game total of 12 goals by driving one into the net within the first three minutes of the game. Tri-Valley’s Karyn Sheeley provided the assist. Jakki Pugh, also from Tri-Valley, nearly drilled in another a minute later, but it glanced off the crossbar.

Not to worry, Pugh would score two goals and assist in a third. Only a seventh grader, Pugh plays with uncanny ferocity. Scherer had three goals and an assist and Sheeley had a goal and an assist.

Liberty United showed great intensity, especially on Mahopac’s attempts to effect a breakaway. Great defense by Monticello’s Chelsea Brennan and Tri-Valley’s Amanda Martin helped to turn the ball back upfield. Tri-Valley’s Ellen Williams was very active in the midfield.

In constant motion, vying for every ball and unabashed by the contact up front, was Liberty’s Jasmine Walizadeh. She just missed getting the ball into the net on several occasions.

Keeper Jessica Stant of Monticello stopped nine shots, including a penalty shot.

Mahopac got two goals from Kaitlin Dibello. The first came just before the end of the first half at 39 minutes and made the score 4-1. She added another, just before time ran out at the end of the game. Mahopac’s Emily Pfaffenbach had a goal in the second half.

Mahopac played with no subs, with five of their key defenders missing. In the first game in Mahopac, Liberty United played shorthanded.

The result was the same in both games. Mahopac’s record fell to 4-5 with the loss in the season finale.

Liberty United just finished its second full year of play. This past winter, they went undefeated in indoor soccer at Bard College. This fall, since the girls play for their home schools, they practiced once a week and played their games on Sunday.

Coached by Kris Stant, with assistant Susan Sheeley, the team has coalesced into a fine-tuned machine.

Referee Chick Thomas of Florida, NY has seen many of these girls evolve from not knowing a thing about the game into a nucleus of impact players.

“You can’t believe how much they’ve improved,” said Thomas. Officiating for 23 years, he also had a daughter on one of S.S. Seward’s juggernaut teams.

The Liberty United kids are extremely enthusiastic about their progress.

“We’re amazing,” said Brennan, before the game with a broad grin. “We play with power,” added Karen Sheeley, smiling. Then the team went out and backed up their words with a fiery demonstration of skills and cohesiveness.

Most of the girls started out playing with Liberty’s Carpio Ramos on the U-12 team, which included boys and girls. Ramos has a great mind when it comes to the game and his influence was key.

“His dream is to get all the kids successful and give them the chance to go on to play,” said Sue Sheeley, who initially brought Karyn to play with the U-12 team.

Stant said that as the girls got older, the play with the boys became too physical, so they decided to split off and form the present team.

Stant, a former goalkeeper at William Floyd High School and Sullivan County Community College, is what Sheeley describes as “a soccer nut.” The two parent coaches talk about the game constantly and their commitment shows.

Other players adding their energy and skills to this final game included Tri-Valley’s Samantha Adriens and Brittany Austin, Liberty’s Pauline Kleinberger and Monticello’s Andrea Drollinger and Kylie Bulaga. Kayla Scannell and Skylar Musa from Tri-Valley, along with Sarah Sheridon from Sullivan West, are also part of the squad, comprised of 18 young women.

This coming weekend, the girls will travel to East Stroudsburg, PA for a premiere tournament featuring 100 teams. The team, which will be playing U-16 teams from New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is guaranteed at least four games and more if they win. It will be their first sleepover tourney.

Look for this team to continue to improve in this league and for its individual members to strengthen the programs at Tri-Valley, Monticello, Liberty and Sullivan West.

Visit www.riverreportersports.com for additional photos from Liberty United’s win over Mahopac.