Sleepy Hollow Football Club Highlights: Week 6

Another week of the Spring soccer is in the books for Sleepy Hollow Football Club. It’s the height of spring soccer, final stretch of the school year and players – and parents alike! – are feeling the pull of hectic springtime schedules. Even so, players and coaches remain determined. This week’s highlights underscore the commitment SHFC players demonstrate week over week. Here are the recaps for SHFC games this past weekend:

For more information about SHFC, please visit http://www.sleepyhollowfc.com

The Girls Varsity Mustangs started off their match against the West Side Red Bulls with only 9 girls on the field playing against 11 visitors. One of the nine was young Gemma Fante who wanted to help out her big sister Talia's team and agreed to match up with players up to five years her senior. About 10 minutes later three more Mustangs arrived and the team quickly took control of the game. Ana Marisa Lara was back in town and put on show scoring three goals. Talia scored two and Melanie Urgiles scored one. Up 6-0 at the half the Mustangs shuffled the lineup with each girl playing a new position. Keepers Julia Costa and Lilly Rodriguez earned the shutout along with many defenders. The Mustangs next face Manhattan Portero at Pier 40 in Manhattan on Sunday. With pre-prom festivities at Seaside Heights, weekend jobs, Lacrosse, and the location of the game…This week’s biggest challenge will be fielding a team.

The Boys Junior Varsity Red Legends found themselves down 0-1 to Eastchester after losing their first match of the year the week before. After the initial defensive lapse, the boys buckled down with 4 unanswered goals. Dylan Orellana scored 2 while Frank Mendieta and Aiden Smith each scored 1. The Red Legends are now in a three-way tie for first and next play 6th place Harrison.

The Blaze fell to the Munay Earthquakes Sunday in a tough 3-1 game. The Blaze started strong as less than a minute into the match which was held on the Sleepy Hollow High School field where many of the girls will one day soon play on the High School team, Juliana Marvin passed to Sammi Marvin and Sammi made a great centering pass to Blaze forward Gemma Fante. Gemma's kick shot went over the Earthquake goalie but deflected off the crossbar, just missing putting the Blaze ahead. The Blaze did take the lead in the 11th minute of the match when a long goalie kick from Emily Aridas to Lilly Wurster in midfield and Lilly's one-touch pass ahead to striker Sammi Marvin allowed Sammi to blaze past the Earthquake defender. When she closed in on the opposing goal her shot to the far-right corner of the net put the Blaze ahead 1 - 0. However, with just a minute remaining in the first half, Blaze goalie Emily Aridas, who stopped 3 1v1 breakaways in the first half for her team, could not stop the fourth and the teams were knotted at 1 at half time.

In the second half, Earthquake forwards pressured the Blaze defense which featured a rotation of Bianca Lopez Parnetti, Gabby Disney, Juliana Marvin, Meghan O'Hanlon, and Lilly Star. Blaze midfielders, which featured a rotation of Lizzie Molina, Cassie Jung, Zoey Murphy, Meghan O'Hanlon and Lilly Wurster helped out as much as possible, but in the 56th minute of the match and again in the 68th minute match, two additional Earthquake goals were scored on breakaways.

Coaches John Sutherland and Annette O'Hanlon will look to regroup with their team next weekend as the Blaze have a makeup game scheduled for Saturday at 5 pm against the Rye Rock Stars and on Sunday morning at 9 am against the John Jay Purple team.

Fusion 2008 Boys travelled to the Rye Reds for a very physical game on a grass field.

Josh Ortiz scored on a free kick due to a Rye penalty in minute 8. About 10 minutes later, a series of great passes from Edwin Dutan and Luke Tonaj led to a Jayden Perez goal at a wicked angle from the far corner. In the second half, Sebastian Londono would score the half's only goal off a feed from Ortiz. Attempts by Kieran Degen, Aiden Lee, Ian Papadopoulos, Alessandro Soto, Eoghan Glynn, Tonaj, Raul Socualaya, Luca Dominguez and Dylan Largo showed a depth of pressure but were unable to convert.

Pierce Davis and Jonathan Figueroa each showed control and composure in goal, each stopping a few key drives that would have shifted the game's momentum. Defense from Dutan, Bruno Flores, Aiden Lee, Luca Simbana, Shyam Manjanath kept Rye away from the ball and with Fusion in control of possession.

Coaches Mackiewicz and Degen were pleased by how Fusion successfully took and maintained control of this game, which had many highly physical moments. Fusion is 5-1 and travel to the Doxa Wolfgang, the team who handed them their only loss in more than a year, on Sunday for what will be a spirited match.

The Red Fury rebounded from last week's loss with a win over the Rye Brook Fire. Throughout this game, the Red Fury dominated in ball possession, passes, and teamwork.

In the first half, defenders Mia Gurreri, Natalie, Coffman, and Sawara Ketkar ran down or intercepted the Fire's attacks. Feeding the ball to Breanne Rodriguez or Sofia Cruz in midfield, both made sublime passes to the attacking line of Julia Maad, Lauren Monachelli, and Rachel Richardson. Julia and Lauren had several shots on goal that the Fire managed to stop. Meghan McMahon, substituting for Julia, made the first goal for the Red Fury. Winning the ball from the Fire, Meghan dribbled past several defenders and powered a shot in. Maiyumi Marcus-Kanesaka, playing goalie, had several big saves during this half.

In the second half, the Red Fury applied unrelenting pressure on the Fire. After several exciting plays, the big one that led to a goal started with a pass by Sofia to Meghan who powered the ball up the left side. Meghan crossed to the ball to Lauren who struck it in for a goal. The Red Fury did concede a penalty kick during this half, but Meghan secured a brace when she fought for the ball and scored.

The 2010 Girls Bandits continued their powerful spring season with a 3-2 victory over the Shrub Oak Blaze in a challenging, physical match. The Bandits, with a short roster this week, were grateful for Arlee and Ella Judkins, who subbed in for the first half, before heading off to their own game with the Red Fury. Showing great coordination and communication, Marianna Patsch passed to Katie Yalmokas, who passed to Ada Chalfy for Goal #1 early in the first half. Mackenzie Linhart made a spectacular sliding save in front of the goal, one of many brilliant defensive moves. The game remained tight, with the Blaze tying it up at 1-1 going into halftime.

The Bandits kicked it up a notch in the second half, with impenetrable defense, led by Linhart and Natalia Hargrave. Sabrina Graham was calm and collected in goal, with some spectacular saves and command of the box. Mila Gallagher made Goal #2 in heavy traffic, off of a great pass by Lily Glynn. Hargrave, who had been dominant in defense all day, drove in Goal #3, to cap a stellar performance. The Blaze scored a goal on a late penalty, but it wasn't enough to rob the Bandits of their hard-fought victory. The team demonstrated tremendous grit, teamwork, communication, and sportsmanship, and they remain undefeated in 2021.

Girls 2011 Chaos played two games last weekend. On Saturday, they played a make-up game against Greenburgh United's Pythons. The team played a very cohesive game and thanks to goals by Ella and Piper, Chaos saw a 2-1 victory. On Sunday, Chaos hosted Pleasantville in a very spirited, close contest. Goals were scored by Savannah and Ella, notably one in the games last minutes to put Chaos ahead 3-2. The team played hard with renewed focus, field awareness and determination. Go Chaos!

The Boys U10 All Reds, taking advantage of the beautiful weather, had games on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. The Saturday game was a hotly contested match against our in-tax-district rivals from Greenburgh United. The boys in red controlled the pace early and got on the board first with a score by Oliver Scherich. The game remained tied until midway through the 2nd half when the Greenburgh team got the equalizer. Then, in the final minute, with the clock running down, the Greenburgh team was able to slip one by Phil Coffman in goal, handing the All Reds their first defeat of the season. In the Sunday match, the All Reds traveled to the northern cusp of the county to a little hamlet called Mahopac. Playing some of their best soccer to date and without the benefit of a sub for much of the game, the boys were able to duke it out for a tie against the home team. Time of possession was probably 80/20 in favor of the boys in red but sometimes the ball just can't find the back of the net. Shout out to Matthew Zhuzhingo for hopping in as goalkeeper for the first time ever. Jackson Neilsen served up a beautiful PK in front of his adoring, visiting grandparents for the feel-good story of the day. At the halfway point in the season, the All Reds are 3-1-1.

The SHFC Gators traveled to Scarsdale to take on the Scarsdale 2012 white in hopes of preserve their undefeated season. The game proved to be extremely evenly matched from start to finish. The Gators began the first half forcing the issue, with several chances on goal within the first 10 minutes of the contest. They were able to find the back of the net toward the end of the first half as Sienna S. cashed in on a beautiful assist from Oli M. The first half ended with the score 1-0 in favor of the Gators.

The back-and-forth affair continued into the second half when Scarsdale knotted the score at 1. Scarsdale scored again with time winding down in the second half to take a 2-1 lead.

Just as it looked like time would run out on the Gators undefeated season, Maeve G. broke through for an exhilarating last second goal to tie the game as time expired.

In a memorable display of team unity, the Gators hoisted Maeve onto their shoulders, chanting her name in celebration as they carried her off the field toward a crowd of very proud parents (and an ice cream truck). The Gators taught everyone in attendance a valuable lesson on this day: Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.

The Gators will play host to Asphalt Green this Sunday at WI, a team they tied 1-1 to kick off the spring season.

This weekend the Red Devils played the Rye Earthquakes on the road, their first road trip of the Spring season. Since playing the Earthquakes in the first game of the season, the Red Devils have improved tremendously, looking like a different team! The coaches implemented a new lineup, which seemed to drive greater discipline in players keeping to position. This enabled the Red Devils to play quick, tight, end-to-end soccer. Particular mention in the first half goes to Asher Gaito, David Alban, and Dylan Feroe, whose teamwork, quick footwork, and tight passing largely kept the Earthquakes away from scoring chances. The game was tied 0-0 up until the last minute of the first half, when the Earthquakes were finally able to get a goal through. In the second half, the tight disciplined soccer continued, despite the hot sun that threatened to tire the team. Deep into the second half, the Red Devils scored an incredible team-effort goal, with an assist going to just about every player on the field, with Max Muinos finally scoring for the Devils. The final was a loss of 1 to 3 for the Red Devils, but the team showed incredible progress and talent and Coach Muinos was extremely proud of the team, saying after the game “I am so proud of how the boys performed today, it was a fantastic team effort, with great focus, determination and application by every player. We played with a new formation for the first time, but the boys adapted fantastically. I am looking forward to further progress and development for the team and each player through the end of the season.” The boys look forward to a double-header this coming weekend.