Pearl River Finds Scoring Touch, Beats Nyack

The Pearl River girls soccer team lost much of the team that won a section championship last season and the inexperience showed as the Pirates lost four of their first five games.

Pearl River took a step toward righting the ship Thursday with a 3-0 victory over Nyack at MacCalman Field.

"This is definitely moving us in the right direction," said junior Jules Madigan. "In the beginning, we had trouble working together. We got that under control. Our next problem was finishing the ball and now we got that under control, so hopefully we can keep this going and get some wins."

Madigan did much of the finishing, scoring the Pirates' first two goals. She also assisted on Kristen McGarvey's late goal that provided the final margin. The first goal, off an assist by Annie White, was particularly important with Pearl River (2-4) coming off 1-0 losses to Tappan Zee and Nanuet.

"Nanuet, we had everything going on and we were finally showing some improvement and our only problem was not being able to finish, so when we came out here and we were able to score in the first four minutes, it was definitely a boost for us," Madigan said. "I knew we needed to score and I wanted to do that."

"She outplayed us at that position," Nyack Head Coach Emily Dempsey said of Madigan. "She did good work trying to get inside and we didn't read it."

The loss dropped Nyack to 5-3. The Indians have been struck by injuries of late and are trying to adjust. Dempsey said the team simply has to play through the adversity.

"It just really wasn't our day today," Dempsey said. "We weren't at our best on transition. We fought hard between the 18s, but from the 18 to the goal line on both side, we just stopped. I think that was our biggest struggle."

Pearl River was also missing a key part of the the team, Head Coach Tim Peabody, who is recovering after having oral surgery Wednesday. Assistant Coach Kathryn Moore filled in. 

"It was back and forth for a while, but we were able to gain control enough to score some goals," Moore said. "It was nice to bounce back after some of the trouble we've been having."

"He's always the one to motivate us and get us doing our best," Madigan said. "It' hard without him here, but Ms. Moore was good and we won it for him."