Greeley Sacks Fox Lane; Yorktown Nips ’Pac, Ties Carmel
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
By Ray Gallagher, Examiner Sports Editor @Directrays
Twas a light week of Section 1 action due to the holidays, so most teams had a chance to get healthy and prepare for what should be a wild second half of the season, in which there are many challengers to the throne. Class AAA has four one-loss clubs; Class AA has what looks like as many as nine teams in the hunt; Class A, which we all knew would be a dog-fight, has maybe eight teams looking to knock off 2023 NYS runner-up Byram Hills; and Class B has what looks like seven legit challengers, including reigning champ Keio and runner-up Briarcliff.
Saddle up, gang, the last few weeks are sure to be hairy.
CLASS A
LAKELAND needed a bit of a jolt to its scoring attack, so Coach Tim Hourahan decided it was time to call up eighth-grader Nick Ahmataj, and the rookie came through with flying colors in his initial varsity game, putting a pair between the pipes in the visiting Hornets’ 7-3 win over John Jay CR. The Hornets (7-2-1) will look to integrate Ahmataj into the lineup with Vinny Karaqi (1G, 2A), Matteo DiLaura (2G, 1A), Ryan Harmon (1G), Lucas Boyko (1G, 1A) and John Lage (1A).
More impressive was Lakeland’s 1-0 win over state-ranked (No.15) Ardsley Saturday when
DiLaura scored the game’s lone goal from Thomas Jorge. Hornets G Oban Rader logged eight saves for the shutout.
PLEASANTVILLE escaped VALHALLA with a 1-0 win when Kai Martens Wallace scored the game’s lone goal from Jonah Aghern, allowing the sneaky-good Panthers (6-1-2), who have not allowed a goal in the last four games (3-0-1) to climb to No.4 in Class A where NYS runner-up BYRAM HILLS worked a 1-1 tie with New Rochelle last Monday to improve to 8-0-3. The Bobcats
CLASS AA
PEEKSKILL worked a 2-2 with Ardsley behind a pair of tallies from explosive sniper Umaru Conteh (assisted by Chris Chalco and Maddox Lozada).
GREELEY is making a charge after taking out FOX LANE, 2-1, going 6-0-2 since losing to Mahopac. Greeley opened up the scoring when Henry Holmquist put away a Maxi Kolev cross in the 9th minute. Fox Gavin Morales then picked up an errant pass in the 24th minute and tied it at 1-all before the half (Morales also scored in the Foxes’ 1-1 tie with Port Chester Wednesday). Ryder Goodman then scored the game winner for Greeley, again assisted by Maxi Kolev, with 27 minutes to go in the game. Ben Falk had four saves for Greeley while Fox keepers Eli Daglio and Drew Bagley combined for eight saves.
“I thought we played our best game today,” Quaker Coach Camp Shropshire said. “We controlled the ball, played bravely on defense, and got great minutes from our reserve players. An all around great performance. Class AA is a beast, with so many great sides.”
YORKTOWN settled for a 1-0-1 week against two of Putnam’s finest clubs, resulting in a 2-0 win over host MAHOPAC Wednesday before Saturday’s 1-1 with host CARMEL.
Yorktown scored first against Carmel, doing so off shot by Christian Beitler, which was rebounded by Ryan Dean for the putback. Carmel’s second-half goal Michael Placensia tied it 1-1, Carmel’s fifth tie of the season. Ram G Alex Berardi (8 saves) was busy.
“We played our brand of soccer in the first half,” Yorktown Coach Justin Huff said. “Second half we had a bad mistake, they scored, and we couldn’t get back into our game. Carmel plays a tough physical game and we couldn’t match it in the second half. We still have a lot to clean up.”
Against Mahopac, Nick Pozo and Ditlum Bajrami scored while Haniel Flores had an assist and G Antonio Spiniello needed just five saves for the shutout.
CLASS B
BRIARCLIFF took a 1-0 decision from WESTLAKE when Markus Zielinski converted a feed from Nathaniel Rohde and keeper Conall Torres (4 saves) secured the shutout for the Bears. Jozef Varadi made eight saves for the Wildcats.
The Bears blew a 1-0 halftime lead in a 1-1 tie with Rye Neck Saturday. Rohde scored from Jake Colitti while Torres had four saves.
VALHALLA (3-6-2) picked up a much-needed win, taking a 6-3 decision from Woodlands. Vikings Arthur Barrozo (2G), Ian Silvero (1G, 2A), Fabio Arellano (1G, 2A). Ertis Loci (2A), Isaac Hernandez (1G) and Mateo Araoz (1G) filled the stat sheet.
CLASS AAA
The real WHITE PLAINS finally showed up in its 4-1 league win over OSSINING, doing so behind a hat trick from Jeremiah Rojas (1A) and a goal and assist from Eric Garcia. Alex Napoli and Andres Arce each had an assist and Edgar Garcia (11 saves) came up huge between the pipes. Jason Chunchi scored for the Pride.
CLASS C
It’s been a struggle for both HADLANE and PUTNAM VALLEY this fall, but the Blue Devils held nothing back in a 9-1 win over the Tigers behind a six-point effort from Matt Silhavy (3G, 3A) and three points apiece from Samuel Cardona (2G, 1A) and Rhys Williams (1G, 2A).
Examiner-Area Super 7 Banger
No.1 Byram Hills (8-0-3) Class A – State-ranked (No.5) Bobcats tied a tested Class AAA New Ro club, which bodes well, considering New Ro tied No.17 AAA North Rockland. Tough stretch forthcoming with Harrison and Rye (a combined 16-5-2)
No.2 Peekskill (9-2-1) Class AA – State-ranked (No.10) Red Devs should win out and finish with 13 wins, but do they have enough to topple a club like Tappan Zee, which has gone 7-1 in the last eight and outscored foes 26-6 in that stretch.
No.3 Greeley (7-1-3) Class AA – Ranked No.20 in NYS have swept Fox Lane, beat White Plains and tied Ossining. The Quakers should have your attention by now.
No.4 Fox Lane (6-2) Class AA – Sandwiched between a pair of losses to Greeley are wins over White Plains and Ossining and a tie with Port Chester, not to mention a win over Yorktown earlier.
No.5 Ossining (5-2-3) Class AAA – Pride had some weaknesses exposed on 3-goal setback to White Plains, who had no answer for Jeremiah Rojas (hat trick).
No.6 Yorktown (6-2-2) Class AA – 4-0-2 since losing to Fox Lane, including a shutout of Mahopac.
No.7 Carmel (4-1-5) Class AA – Rams are gonna need a healthy Kevin Hernandez (ankle) down the stretch. Not much separating No.7 through No.7C below, given the amount of top-notch soccer we’re seeing.
No.7A Somers (6-5-1) Class A – Something tells us the well-rested Tuskers are looking forward to rematch with Lakeland this week, which might help us crack this 4-way tie for the 7-spot.
No.7B Mahopac (6-3-1) Class AA – Climbed to No.13 in state rankings before falling to John Jay EF and Yorktown, so they get sacked by our useless Ex. rankings.
No.7C Lakeland (8-2-1) Class A – 1-0 win over Ardsley and 2-1 win over Somers were the type of quality W’s we needed to believe in the Hornets; though that loss to Panas #BoyoBoy.
Honorable Mention (in no order)
Pleasantville (6-1-2) Class A – Great season, but it’s the 4-2 loss to Irvington, plus a Class B-heavy schedule, that has us curious about the Panthers’ playoff future.
Briarcliff (4-2-5) Class B – Handled Class A Westlake, 1-0, and tied a good Rye Neck club. Rough stretch ahead vs. Blind Brook and P’Ville, which will tell us all we need to know.
Westlake (5-2-3) Class A – Scoring goals has been an issue in last 3 games (0-2-1), just 1 tally.
White Plains (4-4-1) Class AAA – Win over Ossining should provide confidence but a tough closing stretch awaits before playoffs.
RAY GALLAGHER/DAVID TABER PHOTOS
Ray has 33 years experience covering and photographing local sports in Westchester and Putnam counties, including everything from Little League/Travel Baseball to varsity high school prep sports and collegiate coverage. He has been a sports editor at Examiner Media since its inception in 2007.
Visit Ray’s author bio page for more details. Also read Ray’s archived work here and his Direct Rays column here.
