Tri-Valley Tournament

Lady Bears bedeviled

Ellenville hustles and looks sharp in opening win over host Tri-Valley

By RICHARD A. ROSS

GRAHAMSVILLE, NY — For the Ellenville Lady Blue Devils, playing against Tri-Valley in last year’s season-opening tournament was close but no cigar. Tri-Valley won the opening match 2-1, and went on to beat Monticello 3-2 to clinch its 11th win in the 17 years of the tourney’s history.

Ellenville struggled last year going 3-11, while Tri-Valley went 13-5 in the regular season before losing to Webutuck in the Section Nine Class C tourney. You can expect very good things from Tri-Valley again this year, with a cadre of veterans back in coach Mary Feusner’s fold. It may take awhile for things to gel as some players, including standout Samantha Adriaans, weren’t suited up for this one. Tricia Corigliano and Katelyn Exner weren’t in uniform either, so coach Feusner had to switch some people around and play them in positions that were not their favored spots on the field.

Tri-Valley graduated five seniors and returned 10 seniors, including goalkeeper/defender Kaylie Ackerley, striker Adriaans, midfielder Corigliano, striker/midfielder Megan Drown, defender Addie Frost, defender Annaleise Hartman, defender midfielder Emily Hough, midfielder striker Casey Offringa, midfielder/striker Rachel Pompeii and defender Laurel Wilson.

Other veterans include freshman midfielder Jakki Pugh, sophomore midfielder Karyn Sheeley, sophomore midfielder Skylar Musa, sophomore defender Amanda Martin and junior goalkeeper Ellen Williams.

New additions include junior midfielder/striker Kate Brown, junior midfielder Gabrielle Calabrese, junior midfielder Katelyn Exner, junior midfielder Mercedes Catania, junior midfielder Katrina Frost and junior defender Brittany Klee.

Both Pugh and Sheeley had off-season ankle injuries that continued to be nagging as the season began. Sheeley suffered a severe blow to her injured ankle in the second half of this first game and had to be taken to the hospital for an x-ray. It is likely her services will be lost for an indeterminate amount of time. Pugh played, but it will take her awhile to get herself back into the speedy form she was in last season.

All of these factors, plus Ellenville’s marked improvement, led to the Lady Blue Devils upset of Tri-Valley in the tournament opener.

Ellenville lost nine seniors to graduation, but this year the squad has eight seniors including standout midfielder Margaret Mann, who scored two of the three goals, including the game opener that she shot past goalie Williams less than a minute and a half into the game. Senior Jarelis Torres provided the assist.

Mann’s goal resulted from Tri-Valley’s inability to mark up players at the outset, and Ellenville’s quick control of play in the midfield set up the strike. Ellenville’s dominance in the midfield held sway for most of the game, leading to a number of breakaways by Torres and Mann.

Pugh had Tri-Valley’s first shot on goal about three and a half minutes in. But shortly thereafter, Williams lost her footing and a second Ellenville goal, this one by Torres, went in unassisted with five minutes gone by.

“We’re not marking, we’re following the ball,” shouted Feusner who never misses a teachable moment.

Feusner inserted Ackerley in goal for the second half. Tri-Valley had its breakaways, including one by Megan Drown. But the shot went straight into the waiting arms of Ellenville’s keeper. Tri-Valley managed only nine shots on goal, compared to Ellenville’s 21. One of those came with 4:56 remaining and was a laser from Mann that was unassisted to give the Lady Blue Devils their eventual 3-0 victory.

Williams recorded three saves for the Lady Bears (0-1) and Ackerley added eight more in the second half.

Ellenville had seven saves. Ellenville defeated Monticello 5-0 for the tournament championship on September 10 in the late game. Tri-Valley downed Eldred 3-1 for the consolation trophy in the earlier fray.

Ellenville coach Nicole Krom was very pleased with her team’s effort. She sees her team as much improved over last year. They appear to be in very good condition.

Feusner told her team, “Some of you were asked to play different positions to fill our needs and thanks for that. You may be called upon to do so again, until we get more people back.”

The Lady Bears were disappointed to not add another tournament title to the school’s impressive résumé, but they know that the final outcome of the season depends on working out their flaws early by dint of hard work.

With Feusner at the helm the work ethic of this team will never be in question.

The Lady Bears fell to The Family School 4-2 on September 5, but rebounded with a 4-1 against Chapel Field on September 7. They were scheduled to travel to Roscoe on September 11 to take on the other Lady Blue Devils.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of game photos.