Soccer

When push comes to shove

Lady Bulldogs ride Lander PK and stellar defense to gritty league win over O’Neill Lady Raiders

By RICHARD A. ROSS

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — “You lose you learn. You bleed you learn,” sings Alanis Morrisette in a song from her first album, “Jagged Little Pill.”

Those lyrics symbolize the bitter lessons taken to heart by the Sullivan West girls soccer team following its September 18 acrimonious 9-4 road loss to James I. O’Neill in a game marked by team strife and an emotional meltdown.

The flurry of goals scored by the Lady Raiders that day, including three by freshman Caitlin Guerra, incensed some of Sullivan West’s players, including senior Sarah Lander, who ascribe to the ethic that you fight tooth and nail for every ball and never relent. The fact that some team members appeared to throw up the white flag infuriated others, but in retrospect that ignominious defeat became a catalyst for unifying the team.

Since then, a fight-for-every-ball ethic has lived up to the Bulldog name. This past week, that tenacity led to a quartet of wins as Sullivan West strikers, midfielders, defenders and its keeper showed grit and garnered two shutouts. Lander scored eight goals during the streak, including the game-winning penalty kick in the first half of the October 10 rematch with O’Neil.

The 1-0 defeat of O’Neill was unquestionably the highlight of the season to date. Not only was it payback for the prior outing, it was a much-needed league win in a season that faltered at the start and is now rife with promise.

With only three games left, two of which are league rematches with Fallsburg and Liberty, the Lady Bulldogs, now 5-8-1 (2-4 OCIAA), need to win both to gain a sectional berth. Should they beat Fallsburg, it will be the second straight year that they will face Liberty on the last day of the season with a sectional berth on the line. Last year, a tie denied them that prospect. Liberty has already clinched its berth this year after failing to do so a year ago.

But when push comes to shove, expect the Lady Bulldogs to hold nothing back in that October 22 life-and-death struggle.

Speaking of pushing and shoving, both were in no short supply against O’Neill, as each team fought for every ball. Whistles blew as officials closely monitored contact, which led to Lander being shoved while she moved among a bevy of players in the box at 37:55 of the first period.

That led to a penalty kick.

After taking her measure of sophomore keeper Rachel Abrams, Lander fired a laser into the right lower corner of the net past the diving goalie for the eventual game-winner. But there was still much more that had to be done, not the least of which was finding a way to shadow Guerra, who seemed to be running far too free. Luckily her shots, and others taken by O’Neill, went directly into the hands of Sullivan West keeper Kristin Niemann with the exception of an O’Neill goal that was waved off after time expired at the end of the game. The past-time shot followed a tense minute that began when O’Neill was awarded an indirect kick after one of its players was brought down just outside the box.

The game started more than a half-hour late after the O’Neill bus went to Lake Huntington instead of to Jeffersonville.

An early O’Neill trip led to a Sullivan West indirect. A faked kick by Colleen Chudik, followed by a blast by Morgan Edwards, had Bulldog fans applauding the ruse with alacrity. Katrina Graby got a shot on goal shortly thereafter and the Lady Bulldogs showed their intensity in the early going.

A handball led to a shot by Caroline Cannon that sailed right into Niemann’s hands. O’Neill coach Kristin Sproppel counseled her players to aim for the back of the net, but the Raiders’ failed to do so. Meanwhile, Graby and Lander were sending balls towards Abrams, who would hold on to 14 saves by the day’s end to Niemann’s 12.

Raging battles were being waged in the midfield. Sullivan West’s Gabrielle Humleker, Lindsey Bauer, Lindsey Murphy and Edwards marshaled their grit to repulse O’Neill’s relentless attack.

Guerra had the last shot of the first half just after Sullivan West coach Mike Ellmauer had decided to use Edwards to shadow her.

In the second half, O’Neill had the better of the play, and ended up having 25 shots on goal to Sullivan West’s 16 by game’s end. But, the Raiders simply could not find the net, and when they finally did it was one second too late.

O’Neill fell to 8-6 (3-2 OCIAA). The Lady Raiders went on to defeat Liberty 4-3 the next night. Sullivan West defeated Monticello 4-3 on October 15. See riverreportersports.com for an album of pictures and the Monticello game story.