Sacred Heart, South, Sweet Home eliminated in playoffs
Girls soccer
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Sweet Home's Laura Nerber, right, fights off a Kenmore West player to kick the ball during the Lady Panthers' 6-0 Section VI Class AA prequarterfinal loss last Tuesday. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

The Sacred Heart girls soccer team found out why it's always tough to beat a team three times.

Sacred Heart lost 2-1 to Mt. St. Mary's in the Monsignor Martin Association quarterfinals last Wednesday. The Sharks had beaten the Thunder twice by scores of 3-2 in double overtime. The most recent win was six days earlier.

"We knew what we were going to get from them," said Sharks coach Kelly Damon. "I told the girls before the game that we had to capitalize on our scoring opportunities and couldn't make more mistakes than they did. It's how we won the last two games against them. We made a couple of mistakes and they capitalized."

Both of Mt. St. Mary's goals came from Brianna Capapovic and were on Shark miscues, Damon said. Capapovic's first goal tied the game at 1-1 with 15 minutes left in the first half. Her game-winner was 10 minutes into the second half.

Emily Rodgers gave Sacred Heart a 1-0 lead 10 minutes into the first half with an unassisted goal from the top of the 18.

"The game went back and forth," said Damon. "Each team controlled play for a number of minutes. Katherine Bougard and Christine Loftus (team's top scorers, five goals each) took five or six shots each but could not put it in the back of the net."

Sacred Heart goalie Susan O'Rourke made 15 saves, despite breaking one of her hands in the last five minutes of the game.

The Sharks were playing without its captains, Natalie Coppola and Alycia Pontello, the team's starting sweeper and center midfielder, respectively. Both were injured by Mt. St. Mary's players in Sacred Heart's regular season finale.

Ginamarie Mule played sweeper for Coppola, Loftus was moved from forward to midfield to take the place of Pontello, and freshman JV call-up Ashley Mc- Cormick started at forward.

Sacred Heart finishes 6-6-1 but lost many games by only one goal. They only graduate three seniors - Brieanna Brink (outside defense), Samantha Arena (outside midfield) and Emily Tutak (outside defense).

"We only lose three seniors, so I hope we can be a contender next year," said Damon. "I hope we can build off the wins and the tough losses to hopefully be a year more matured so we won't have the breakdowns like we had."

Sweet Home

Lady Panthers coach Scott Hicks thought his girls soccer team might surprise Kenmore West in its Section VI Class AA prequarterfinal game last Tuesday. But the Lady Blue Devils' speed and skill were too much for Sweet Home, seeded thirteenth, as they fell 6-0 at Kenmore West, seeded fourth.

"They dominated us up top and in the back, so it was hard to recover from that," said Hicks. "I thought we would have given them a better game, especially after playing as well as we did against Orchard Park (lost 3-1 in non-league game on Oct. 17). But we never quit."

Kenmore West led 3-0 at halftime.

"We had a few opportunities but nothing real threatening," said Hicks. "When they got their opportunities, they capitalized on them."

Jenna Rickan scored twice for Kenmore West, seeded fourth in the tournament. Gina Falcone, Jordan Rickan, Charlotte Clark and Meghan Albers also scored for the Lady Blue Devils. Goalie Melissa Pawlowski recorded the shutout.

Sweet Home finishes 1-18. The good news is that Hicks graduates only four seniors - defenders Laura Neber and Jennifer Pettapiece as well as forward/midfielder Sydney Dedline and outside midfielder Megan Andriatch. Neber is a four-year varsity player; Pettapiece played for three years.

"We do have a lot of kids coming back," said Hicks. "We're losing two big pieces (Nerber and Pettapiece) but we'll see how it works out. I'm not discouraged; I'm looking forward to next year."

Junior Mariah Mergler led the team with five goals.

Williamsville South

Williamsville South coach Kevin McNamara said if you watched his team's Section VI Class A quarterfinal game at third-seed Starpoint, you wouldn't think the final score was 7-1 Starpoint.

"The kids played hard for the whole 80 minutes," said McNamara. "I thought ball possession was pretty equal but they finished all of their scoring opportunities and we didn't. It's been our problem all season."

Starpoint led 2-1 in the first half before scoring a late goal to lead 3-1 at halftime.

South freshman Pam Guerrero scored an unassisted goal 25 minutes into the first half. Guerrero also hit a crossbar on another scoring opportunity.

McNamara said freshman goalie Erin Ballou kept the team in the game.

"She had between 10 to 12 saves and probably four in the first 10 to 15 minutes," he said.

The loss was disappointing because the team dominated its prequarterfinal opponent, sixth-seed Hutch-Tech, 8-0, last Tuesday.

South scored four goals in the first half and added another four tallies in the second half.

Sophomore Sarah Marcus had a hat trick; Guerrero, Cassiana Hyppolite, Emily Novak, Alex Ciolko and Ally Falletta each chipped in a goal. Junior Brianna Zangara, who was moved from defender to holding midfielder, added four assists. Marcus, Ciolko and Lisa Stachura each added an assist.

Goalie Alyssa Ashcroft recorded the shutout.

South finishes 7-10. Other than the win over Hutch-Tech, South did not beat any team with a winning record.

McNamara loses Carrie Connolly (starts at outside back), Stachura (forward), Alyssa Ashcroft (started some games at goalie) and Arielle Ross, but returns many players, including leading goal scorer Novak (11 goals).

"We have enough talent coming back and from JV to have a good year," said McNamara. "Our success will depend on how much club soccer they play in the offseason. They need to become better players and I need to get better as a coach."

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com