Soccer

Dome prone

OT win over gritty Eldred sends Lady Manor Wildcats back to sports dome to defend ‘D’ title against undefeated S.S. Seward

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LIVINGSTON MANOR, NY — Millions of people around the world adore the game of soccer. Little children will fashion a soccer ball out of a rag and kick it up and down a rocky field. Fans don’t just watch the game, they revel in it.

It’s a recent phenomenon that the game, which the world holds so dear, is finally catching on in the United States. Credit the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team with its storied World Cup and Olympic wins that spawned legions of young soccer players and swelled the ranks of AYSO, high school and college soccer teams.

But America still has a love affair with football. Many gridiron fans will tell you that soccer is too low scoring and that it just isn’t as exciting. People, who hold to these notions, simply haven’t paid close enough attention to soccer.

Soccer is fast-moving, requires great skills, nerve and exceptional conditioning. It is, as this writer has learned, a remarkable sport. Simply put, the game has won me over.

And it is exceptional matches, like the sterling one played between the ladies of Livingston Manor and Eldred in their Class D semifinal on October 27, that demonstrate the verve and tension one hopes to find in competitive sports. After 100 minutes of hard-fought play, Manor emerged the 3-2 OT winner and will move on to play S.S. Seward for the Class D championship.

The game had shifting momentum, great teamwork, resiliency and fine sportsmanship. Most of all, it had balance. Eldred ruled the first half and led 2-0. Manor ruled the second half with two unanswered scores. At the end of regulation, the teams were dead even at 2-2 and it took an overtime goal from Manor’s Christine Babich to create the narrow margin of victory.

Truth be told, either of these teams could have won this match.

Livingston Manor is the defending Class D champion. Last Halloween, the Lady Wildcats found the winning trick and emerged with the ultimate treat of beating Chapel Field 5-2, taking advantage of S.S. Seward’s one-year hiatus in Class C. Manor lost to Smithtown Christian in the opening round of the state tourney.

Graduation meant the loss of a number of key ‘Cats, but 11 vets from ’07 returned to play for coach Shirlee Davis. Manor went 7-2-1 in Division VI, with its only losses coming against Seward. Overall, Manor was 8-7-1. Eldred was 4-4-1 in the division and 5-10-2 overall.

Manor beat Eldred 5-2 the first time out, but the last time the teams ended in a scoreless tie. The key to that game for Eldred was the marking of high-scoring Marissa Diescher by Lauren Hazen. In the first half of this game, Hazen shadowed Diescher and neutralized the threat she poses.

As Manor coach Shirlee Davis will tell you, “Marissa runs like a gazelle.”

Manor came out fired up in front of its sizeable home crowd. They pressured Eldred early, with Diescher leading the charge. Babich fired one on goal and Eldred had trouble clearing the ball in those opening minutes. However, its gritty defenders and keeper Rachel Smith kept Manor at bay.

Eldred has spent hours practicing its crosses. Its first of the day was a beauty from Heather Ouellette to Kim Elvin, to no avail.

Manor reversed the ball and got a shot by Angela Zayas. But as the teams passed the first 10 minutes, Eldred began to assert its dominance. “Don’t let them receive the ball,” shouted Davis. But Eldred won the midfield wars and fronted the ball better than its familiar foes. A Manor charge led to a direct by Diana Schombs as the Yellow Jackets kept the heat on.

Eldred had a couple of corner kicks, which it couldn’t capitalize on. A trip led to a direct by Diescher but Smith held on at 18:51. Eldred’s Christina Watts used her speed to advance the ball to Elvin. That led to a corner kick and Eldred’s first goal.

Sara Bisland kicked it in and Alexis Pierce tapped it into the back of the right-hand corner of the net at 16:10.

A minute later, Elvin sent a laser over the right shoulder of Manor keeper Angela Trotti. Kelsey Ferguson had provided the assist. Eldred now led 2-0.

“We can see who wants this more,” implored Davis. Eldred looked for the dagger before the half. A cross from Sam Ferguson to Ouellette nearly found its way home. Meanwhile, Hazen repulsed a flurry of balls sent her way but Manor nearly scored at 4:00. Two minutes later, it could have easily made it 2-1 but the team was ruled off sides.

At halftime, Eldred led 2-0.

Davis emphasized basic soccer skills, getting in front and using space to advantage at the half. Teamwork would need to play a big part, not to mention getting the midfield and players up front to work together.

But it was Eldred that got the first shot off, following a Manor push, as Eldred’s Meaghan Hazen sent one over the top of the cage.

Showing how quickly things can change, Diescher used her speed to get the ball up the left sideline. She sent a ball across that Babich sent home at 38:14 to make it 2-1.

Eldred hoped to rediscover the magic of the corner kick but it wasn’t there. Trotti snared a direct kick from Sam Ferguson as Manor played with more zip in the midfield. Back and forth it went. Watts just missed one that ricocheted off the right post at 21:22. The champion sprinter, who lights up the short races in track each spring, made another run up the left side at 20:00.

Manor’s Danielle Fredenburg fired one at Smith. At 12:07, Diescher dribbled up the side and sent an unassisted goal in to tie it at two-all.

Pierce tried to answer but her shot veered wide left of the net. Eldred’s best chance for the go-ahead goal came on a feed from Watts to Meaghan Hazen, who swept in front of the net, but Trotti saved it at 2:08. Regulation ended with a 2-2 tie.

In playoffs, girls teams play two 10 minute periods. If neither team is ahead then, two five-minute periods follow suit. Finally, a shootout is deployed to break the tie.

In the first OT period, Manor’s Maggi Calo got the first shot off but Smith saved it. Watts raced ahead but sent her ball way right of the cage. At 5:23, after a charge awarded Manor a possession, Babich fired one in from the left corner that glided by Smith and settled in the back right of the net.

That would prove to be the winner. Eldred’s only real chance to retie the game came from Pierce at 3:32 of the second OT, but Trotti held on for the save.

Each keeper had five saves. Manor (10-7-1) will play undefeated S.S. Seward at the Hudson Valley Sports Dome on October 29 at 2:00 p.m. for the Class D title. “I’m very happy that we made it back to sectionals this year,” said Davis. “We had a lot of team building to do with a group of young players coming in and with three seniors leaving at the end of this season (Samantha Davis, Kaylee Velez and Marina Zayas). We’ll make some adjustments and try to give Seward the best game possible.”

Seward, who dropped back down to Class D, won the state Class C title in 2007. They have yielded only one goal this season.

Eldred coach Kelly Robertson said her team won the battle in the midfield and passed well in the first half. Those factors led to the two goals. Eldred did not sit back on its lead but Manor’s two-goal second period took some of the air out of its game.

Eldred finished its season at 5-11-2. This was the last game for seniors Sara Bisland, Kystina Drasher, Maxine Ellert and keeper Rachel Smith.

Class C girls semifinals

Lady Bears eliminated by Tuxedo in ‘C’ semifinals

TUXEDO, NY — With Seward down in Class D this year, Tri-Valley hoped to reach the finals and perhaps win a crown, but Tuxedo stood in its way. Losing 4-1 to the Lady Tornadoes in the semifinal on October 27, the Lady Bears’ run ended. This was the third time they lost to Tuxedo this year.

A week ago, the two teams played for the Division V crown and Tuxedo won 2-1.

“We picked the wrong day to play our roughest game,” said coach Mary Feusner, “especially on a day when they played their best.”

Tuxedo scored two goals in the first 10 minutes. “They just swarmed the box,” said Feusner, who will have many of her fine players back next year for another run.