Pearl River Topples Nyack, Remains Undefeated

Pearl River boys soccer coach Damon O’Keefe said earlier this week that playing several big schools would serve as a good primer for Conference 4 play.

If Thursday’s league opener at Nyack is an indication of what to expect during the coming months, then the Pirates may actually be in for a rougher ride than anything they experienced during the first two weeks of the season.

Pearl River defeated Nyack, 6-2, in a rough and tumble affair that was physical from the outset. The game featured a great deal of bumping, shoving and grabbing with tempers flaring to a point that Nyack’s Wendy Jean was given a red card early in the second half after kicking one of the Pearl River players in the leg during a break in the action.

“It was pretty much what we expected,” senior Jared Schlosser said. “Their kids, when things break down, they start hitting people. Before the game we talked and we said that if anyone starts hitting, just walk away. That’s the best way to handle it and it showed on the scoreboard.”

There were three yellow cards given in the game, two to Nyack and one to Pearl River for delay of game. The officials issued warnings on several occasions but after Jean was ejected tempers seemed to cool.

“His [Jean's] temper got the best of him,” said Nyack coach Hal Stone after his team fell to 1-6. “After you get hit a couple of times, you don’t really care. It’s a shame because he’s a good player.”

In fact, it was Jean who gave the Indians a 1-0 lead when he scored at the 37:18 mark of the first half on a booming kick from more than 30 yards out. His blast from the right side hooked and caught the top left corner of the net. It marked the first time all season that Pearl River trailed in a game and seemed to be an encouraging sign for the Indians, who were coming off a 1-0 victory over Nanuet on Tuesday.

But Jean’s tally was one of the few bright spots for the Indians as the Pirates [4-0] scored four unanswered goals to take a 4-1 lead into intermission. Jake Tedesco scored at the 29:59 mark, banging in a header off a corner kick to knot the score at 1-1. Schlosser gave Pearl River the lead just over six minutes later, knocking one in off a scrum in front of the net.

Alex Castillo scored off a corner kick at the 18:41 mark before Gio Galvano lofted home a shot from 30 yards out on a free kick.

“They [Nyack] did a very good job of coming to play,” O’Keefe said. “It’s what this league brings. With the [smaller] size of this field, everything is compacted. It brings out the physical part of the game and we talked about that before the game.

“I told them it shouldn’t change the way we play. We had a lot of combo passes and set up on the outside today. That gave us a lot of corners and we scored on the corner kicks for the first time this year today.”

Travis Gayle cut the Pearl River lead to 4-2 with just over 15 minutes remaining, but a minute later Castillo responded by scoring his second goal of the game. Gayle was then given a yellow card for interfering with the goalie on a free kick, forcing him to the bench. Chris Beers closed out the scoring.

“This is one of those trap games,” Schlosser said. “If you don’t come to play, they can jump on you if you’re not playing well.”