Greeley Girls Soccer is on a Roll

The Horace Greeley girls soccer squad entered its week and a half break on a positive note, as it beat visiting Byram Hills 3-2 on Sept. 26 to improve to 6-2 on the season.

Melissa Ardizzone (one goal, one assist), captain Issy Berkey (one goal), Carly Stern (one assist), Katie Mak (one assist), Kathleen Chen (one goal) and Hannah Dun (10 saves) all got into the box score for the Quakers.

“The team really played well and attacked as a unit and they were able to move up the field together,” Greeley coach Erin Tracy said.

Overall, Tracy said that she is very happy with the development her team has shown throughout the course of the season so far especially when it comes to team chemistry.

“When we do stuff at practice it’s all about trying to get the team to work together,” Tracy said. “Everything is about building that team trust.”

One great example of that team chemistry was displayed by Berkey, who was moved from outside midfielder to sweeper to help solidify the defense. Tracy said that she has never played sweeper before, not even for her club team.

“She has a lot of soccer sense,” Tracy said. “So her technicality on the ball gives her the confidence where she can look to change the angle on the ball and switch fields and be able to get the ball up the field to our forwards and higher up to the midfield, which enables us to have a better attack.”

An attack that will be needed as the competition gets better.

“The one thing that I like about this league is that we are all competitive and that any given day any team can have it,” Tracy said. “We'll try to take one game at a time, work together, continue to improve and try to win the league.”

The Quakers next game is 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5 at Tappan Zee.

“Definitely against Tappan Zee we are going to have to let the ball do the work because the field at Tappan Zee is really, really big,” Tracy said. “So instead of doing any kind of long balls we are going to have to try and attack using each other’s feet.”