Sports
Clarkstown South, Pearl River Girls Soccer Tie, 3-3
Clarkstown South tied Pearl River, 3-3, in a girls soccer game Tuesday, the first game all season the Vikings hadn't won.
With Pearl River and Clarkstown South racing toward the Pearl River goal early in the overtime period, the Vikings launched a shot from the left side of the box, sending Pearl River goalie Francesca Cobuzzi diving to her left.
Cobuzzi slowed the ball when she hit it with her hands, but did not stop it. As the ball inched toward the goal line, another Pirate defender ran to the ball and kicked it back toward midfield, ending South’s threat.
It was that kind of afternoon for the Vikings, who entered Monday’s home game with a perfect record and left with a 3-3 tie, leaving Clarkstown South undefeated, if slightly blemished, at 10-0-1.
“We kept missing chances,” said South coach Tom Rolston. “They kept winning the ball over us. Our heads weren’t in it today.”
Throughout the game, including both overtime halves, the Vikings dominated the time of possession and had the ball in Pearl River territory, but just couldn’t seem to get a good shot on goal.
“They’re a possession team and we’re an attack team, so we’re going to just keep going for the goal,” said Pirates coach Tim Peabody.
A few times, when the Vikings did get shots on goal, but couldn’t knock them by Cobuzzi.
“She’s been on varsity for three years and had some injuries, but she’s healthy now,” Peabody said. “She came up big today on a lot of plays.”
While the Pirates (7-2-1) didn’t get the win, Peabody was happy with his team’s effort in the tie.
“Between the field size and the quality of the opponent, I think we needed to see we could play in a big game like this,” Peabody said.
The game was played at Clarkstown South on a soccer field smaller than a lot of other schools’ playing area.
“It’s high school, so you’ve got to play around those things every now and then,” Peabody said.
The Vikings kicked off the scoring early in the game when Briana Jean-Charles headed one by Cobuzzi within the first two minutes. Pearl River waited all of a minute to answer back, when Emily Aristizabal wrestled the ball away from a Viking defender in front of the goal and connected with the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
A few minutes later, Pearl River took the lead on a corner kick, when Aristizabal booted it in front of the net where Kiera McMullen was able to run and tap it in for the goal.
The Vikings came close to tying it a few times, once when Brianna McMahon was stopped from behind on a breakaway before she could get a shot off and another time when Olivia Szeker-Cortes out-ran her defender to the ball at the top left corner of the box, slid and shot on goal by Cobuzzi but just wide right of the net.
The Vikings finally did tie it before the half when Jean-Charles received the ball in front of the goalie, turned around and blasted a shot into the upper right corner of the net for her second score of the half.
South regained the lead in the second half, when Szeker-Cortes charged toward the left side of the net and centered it to McMahon, who easily scored on a wide open net.
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The lead lasted for a little while, but the Pirates tied it on a long goal by Marissa Scognamiglio, who floated a perfectly placed ball from outside the box over the head of a leaping Jill Murawski.
The Pirates return home this Saturday to take on Tappan Zee at 11 a.m. The second-place team in the conference, North Rockland, play the Vikings 7 p.m. Wednesday at South, giving the Vikings very little time to turn around after their first non-victory of the season.
“I hope it pisses them off, because we’ve got a huge game [Wednesday] night under the lights against a tough opponent,” Rolston said. “I hope they get their heads straight.”
