Rivals Briarcliff, P’Ville Play for #BreakTheHoldFoundation

Somers Blanks Greeley in Battle of State-Ranked Powers; Lakeland, Yorktown Rising

by  Tony Pinciaro

BRIARCLIFF is rounding into sectional contender form as the regular season draws to a close and the Section 1 Girls’ Soccer Championships on the horizon. The Bears shut out Blind Brook (3-0), Rye Neck (2-0) and arch-rival Pleasantville (1-0) last week, extending their winning streak to five consecutive games.

Briarcliff, now 7-4 this season, is no stranger to a strong second-half-of-the-season performance. Four-year varsity starter and captain Sora Marable noted this is the second straight year the Bears have raised their collective level of play resulting in a second-half surge.

“Coming into a brand-new season I felt like we need some time to play together so we can come together as a team so we can play to our strengths,” said Marable, who has verbally committed to attend Drexel University next fall and also play soccer. “It has proven over the years that this process takes some time to really work, which explains the tough losses in the beginning.

“As the season goes on, we have been working on what we needed to in practice, correcting our little mistakes and growing a stronger bond as a team, on and off the field, which I feel has aided us in our success.”

The seniors have had a major impact on the team. After 10 teammates, including seven starters, graduated last June, Marable and her classmates became more involved.

“This season, I feel like the seniors have done an excellent job of taking the underclassman under their wings and making their comfortability level grow faster,” Marable said. “That, along with the underclassman coming in ready to put in the work from preseason has benefited our team, as well.”

Briarcliff had a perfect week as the defense and goalie Karina Bar slammed the door shut on the opposition.

“This past week has been so exciting for us as our defense has played an incredibly important role in it all,” Marable said. “Throughout this past week, each of them came into each practice and game ready to work and clearly all of the hard work they put in has been paying off.

“As I mentioned before, it takes time to play well together. We overcame our defensive struggles this week through a team effort, and we all pitched in to help out. After our victory against our rivals (Pleasantville) on Friday, my goalie, Karina Bar, couldn’t have said it any better when she said, ‘While it all starts from the back, it eventually works its way up and we all help out.’ I am extremely proud of how far our defensive line has come from the beginning of the season.”

The defense is comprised of seniors, Sabrina Venezia,  Bailey Apter and Bar, juniors, Sage Wiley and Ava Makaron, and freshmen, Lily Rowe and Lilah Prosperino.

The victory over Pleasantville, at Pace University, capped the week as the teams played for the Break The Hold Foundation. The foundation helps prevent suicides and raises awareness for mental health.

“Playing at Pace, under the lights, with the support of your friends and family makes you feel unstoppable,” said Marable, who scored the goal. “With the addition of The Break the Hold Foundation on our back it was just an amazing feeling to be supporting a worthy cause while playing the sport that I love. I can’t wait to see the event grow into something bigger.”

Rowe scored twice and sophomore Gemma Fante netted her first goal of the season against Rye Neck. Mar Rivera Font collected two assists.

Gabriella Auguste and Marable scored against Blind Brook and Jillian Mauro had an assist for her first varsity point.

Marable knows she and her teammates must continue playing at a high level as sectionals approach. The current five-game win streak has the Bears feeling good about their play.

“As the season comes to a close we’re going to do everything in our power to keep up with our winning streak and dominate, so we can take that into the playoffs with us as a way to say, ‘Don’t poke da Bears,’ to the other teams, (which just means don’t mess with us),” Marable joked. “We know what we have to do on the field and I know that we can achieve anything, especially with this squad.”

LAKELAND went 3-for-3 and is now 8-4 this season after sweeping intra-district rival Panas (5-1 and 6-3) and blanking Sleepy Hollow (4-0).

“We are playing our best soccer of the season,” Lakeland Coach Shawn Sullivan said. “We are defending as a team and finding the open player on offense. We are headed in the right direction.”

Caroline Daly scored twice and Gianna Pace added a goal and two assists in the 6-3 win over Panas.

Victoria Caiazzo, Grace Nugent and Kayleigh Mula also recorded goals and Emily Hahn and Caroline Leonard posted assists. In the second win over Panas, Mula and Pace netted two goals apiece and Margaret Keating scored her first varsity goal. Mula has a team-leading 12 goals.

Caiazzo set up two goals while Daly, Leonard and Keating each had one helper.

The seniors enjoyed Senior Night against Sleepy Hollow as Mula and Caiazzo each tallied two goals with Daly, Pace and  Keating having assists. Amelia Calisi only needed three saves.

CROTON continued its impressive season as the Tigers improved to 7-2-2, following wins over Haldane (5-0) and Putnam Valley (3-1).

“I think with the season coming to an end and playoffs coming up, these two wins were crucial,” senior and captain Ana Chiocchi said. “These being league wins just made them even better.

“I think it was important to win these games because on Tuesday, we are playing North Salem for the league title. These wins give us the confidence we need going into the North Salem game.”

Balanced scoring was the catch-phrase against Haldane with Katelyn Quinlin, Shayna Caguano, Juliet Skrelja, Ava Andrews and Vivian Obermeier had goals. Justine Calvetti and Elle McManus had two assists apiece and Emily Adler registered her fourth shutout of the season on three saves.

Ariel Gagne, Lucia Thoreson and Gwen McManus had the goals against Putnam Valley with Gaby Stok and Andrews collecting assists.

VALHALLA rebounded from a 2-1 loss to Westlake with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Rye Neck. Freshman Isabella Colon scored against Westlake and goalie Giulia Rutigliano made 16 saves.

Adriana Gieorgette scored on a penalty kick and assisted on Elizabeth Molina’s goal for WESTLAKE.

Isabella Mattoni’s first-half goal, a one-time from the top of the box, was all Valhalla needed against Rye Neck.

“Our team, overall, played really well with constant action on the defensive end and plenty of quality counter-attacks, as well as possession-based buildups,” Valhalla Coach Chris Doerr said. “In the second half, our defense did an incredible job of marking up on and denying their key players from generating goals. Towards the end of the second half we went into a more defensive formation and the entire team did a great job of not breaking and conceding a goal. Emma Grioli was in net for us that game and she did a great job denying shot after shot.”

WHITE PLAINS took two games against Ossining – 2-1 and 2-0 – but lost to Horace Greeley (2-0). Paloma Cano and Lily Obligado had the scores in the 2-1 victory and Paige Kearon made seven saves. Kearon was the standout Tiger against Greeley with 15 saves.

Violeta Figueroa scored in the first half and Melanie Rodriguez had a goal in the second half in the 2-0 win over Ossining with Kearon handling six shots.

YORKTOWN ran its winning streak to five consecutive games with triumphs of Nanuet (7-0) and John Jay-Cross River (1-0). The Cornhuskers are now 8-2-1 this season.

Kaitlyn Judge finished with two goals to highlight a well-rounded offensive showing against Nanuet. Kaitlyn Meola, Lea Bryant, Eva Monaco, Caoimhe Vallely and Olivia Del Gaudio tallied goals and Ciara O’Brien was called on to make three saves.

First-year Yorktown Coach Ryan Langkfel said it was a very strong effort by the entire team against John Jay as Del Gaudio’s goal, assisted by Judge, was all the Cornhuskers needed.

HEN HUD improved to 7-5 overall and 5-1 in league action after wins over Peekskill (5-0) and Panas (3-2). Seniors Lexi Robinson and Jess Redmond celebrated Senior Night with two goals and one goal, respectively. Kiely Morley added one goal and one assist and eighth-grader Skylar Selkin scored her first varsity goal. Shayla Cachy and Eleni Schattman each had assists and Antonia Cooper handled three shots.

Hailey Morris, Fotini Schattman and Redmond each scored a goal against Panas and Morley assisted on two scores.

HORACE GREELEY bookended two wins around a loss to undefeated Somers (3-0).

The Quakers started with a 4-0 win over Port Chester as  Sophia Ivanov, Rachel Glick, Grace Richards and Abigail Meakem found the back of the net. Caroline Rose, Casey Samuels and Emerson Puleo collected assists and Lauren Singer made three saves.

The Quakers finished with their second shutout of the week, a 2-0 victory over White Plains as Rose had the goals.

Emily Hametz and Glick assisted and Singer only needed two saves.

In the loss to SOMERS, Julia Arbelaez had two goals for the state-ranked No.1 Tuskers and Tiana Righetti scored one as the dynamic duo continued to fill the nets this fall.

PLEASANTVILLE covered each category last week with a win, loss and tie. The Panthers began play with a 0-0 draw with Blind Brook, then covered the win column with a 5-1 victory over Valhalla behind two scores from Jess Beck. Faith Brown contributed one goal and one assist and Jordan Sokich and Natalie Viviano each scored goals.

The Panthers lost top archrival Briarcliff, 1-0, at Pace University in the first Break the Hold Foundation game, which helps prevent suicide and raises awareness for mental health.

“We had both community’s youth players attend and walk out with the players for the national anthem, and play games at halftime,” Pleasantville Coach Anthony Portera said. “It was a great event!”

MAHOPAC won its only game of the week – 8-0 over former Section 1 school, Poughkeepsie. The Indians are now 6-4-2 this season.

Niamh Kelleher scored her first two varsity goals and Sydney Hughes set up two scores.

Gianna Fava, Adrianna Pranzo, Orlaith Gallagher, Makaila Pikoulas, Sarah Robinson and Monkia Lazar all netted goals. Faith Poniros, Pranzo, Lazar and Kelleher also had assists.

PEEKSKILL won two of three with victories over Woodlands (5-0) and East Ramapo (4-1).

Valeria Otavalo had a natural hat trick – the first three goals of the game – against Westlake. Michelle Barreto and Mayra Perez also scored goals. Brianna Zhunio, Natalie Foster and Barreto finished with assists. Janeyra Maldonado, Barreto and Perez had a goal and assist apiece against East Ramapo and Foster scored a goal.

Peekskill dropped a 3-1 verdict to Brewster with Alejandra Morocho scoring, assisted by Barreto.

BREWSTER split two games – a 3-2 loss to Nyack followed by a 3-1 win over Peekskill.

Julia DeRose had the goals against Nyack with Mia Crivelli and Addison Crowley assisting. On Senior Night, DeRose and Sienna Santiago scored 10 minutes apart in the first half and Cara Winkler closed out the scoring.

FOX LANE had two victories in three games – 5-1 over Lincoln and 2-0 over Port Chester.

Five players had the goals against Lincoln – Brynn Anthony, Zoey Lowenberg, Lizzie Fortune, Ava Shuster and Amanda Griffin and Tessa Newberg rang up two assists

Amanda Mazzucca, set up by Griffin, and Shuster, assisted by Mazzucca, scored against Port Chester. The Foxes lost a 4-0 game to Ossining.

OSSINING dealt Fox Lane a 4-0 loss as Paige Pena had the first three goals of the game, in a 10-minute span of the first half, for a natural hat trick. Sofia Soares assisted on the first two goals, then scored in the second half. Lindsay Saich made one save for her fourth shutout in her last five games.

The Pride dropped a pair of games to White Plains, 2-1 and 2-0. Pena had the goal and in the shutout Saich was outstanding with 16 saves.

PANAS dropped the season set to district-rival Lakeland (6-3 and 5-1) and a tough one in overtime to John Jay-Cross River, 4-3. Giuliana Rodriguez, Olivia Mark and Kaylie Mellars scored in the 6-3 loss with Sophia Rivera, Cassidy Pisani and Jeimmy Rosa adding assists.

Mellars scored twice and Rodriguez added the third goal against John Jay-Cross River.