Rovers soccer edge Condors

The Amherst Rovers defeated the Clarence Condors, 4-3, in an girls U12 outdoor soccer travel game on June 11.

Clarence scored early but Amherst responded with two quick goals of their own. The first came on a beautiful corner kick by Colleen Stelley that looked like it curved toward the goal, deflected off the goalie and into the net. Sarah Snyder made a beautiful pass forward to Courtney Sugarman, who deflected a low shot off the goalie's leg and up into the net for the second goal.

Clarence nearly tied it, but Julia Struble somehow kept the ball out of the net during a flurry of shots and rebounds right in front of her. But for most of the rest of the half, it was Amherst putting on the pressure, led by Maria Lafornaya, who nearly scored several times, including one off the post and another just over the crossbar.

Clarence did manage to find the net once more to send it into halftime all tied up. It seemed like the luck might be with Clarence when they scored to go up 3-2 midway through the second half, but Amherst tied it at 3-3 when Audrey Parenti blasted in a rebound. The play was set up with a beautiful crossing pass by Kali Karnes that left Julia Struble alone on the far side. The goalie made a great save but was beat cleanly by Parenti on the rebound. Mia Lafornaya's luck finally changed as she scored the game-winner when she intercepted a goal kick, beat two defenders to get in close and bounced it off the inside of the far post and in.

Amherst nearly got a clincher late when Allie Troncone's shot was deflected across to Meredith Parenti, who sent it toward the net but the goalie made a diving save.

Offensively, Julia Newton made an impressive drive deep into Clarence's corner and then made a nice centering pass to create a scoring chance.

Joy Thompson made two Clarence players look like they were sleeping when she took the ball from right under their noses and drove past them deep into Clarence's end. It was one of several strong charges by Thompson.

Defensively, Amherst's defense helped sustain pressure by pinching up to midfield. Sarah Snyder and Jade Brooks both stuffed Condor players several times near midfield. Clarence's only recourse was to blast the ball all the way down the field and then try to chase it down. It led to several scoring opportunities. Chelsea Stachura made some good saves on such breaks, coming out to intercept the ball or making difficult saves. Brooks and Snyder also kept them in check by running down breaking Clarence players from behind.