Girls Soccer Playoffs: Division, Island Trees to Meet in Class A Quarters

Division and Island Trees will face off in the quarterfinals of the girls soccer Class A playoffs on Tuesday after each team won their respective games over the weekend.

The top-seeded Blue Dragons cruised to victory in their first-round game Friday, topping Glen Cove by a 8-0 score. Division was paced by two goals from Ari Weingrad and Susan Ballantyne. Krista Fitzpatrick added a goal and two assists, while Maggie Carew contributed two assists.

This year, the Blue Dragons finished their regular season 11-0-3 and were the Conference A-1 champs. This is the first time in school history that they entered the playoffs as the top seed. They were a 2 seed a year ago but lost in the first round to Jericho.

Island Trees had to wait until Sunday due to inclement weather to play, but the eighth-seeded Bulldogs topped ninth-seeded Clarke 2-1 at home to win their berth into the quarterfinals.

The score was knotted at 0-0 after 40 minutes. Island Trees came out gunning in the second, and the Lady Bulldogs’ aggressiveness paid off at the 14:02 mark. A bounding lead pass from Olivia Johnston to forward Allie Merrill put the talented Island Trees forward one on one against Clarke goalie Emily Ramos. Merrill got a good foot on the ball, crosscutting the goalmouth for the score.

Less than 10 minutes later, Merrill scored again with a booming shot that went left to right and above the fingertips of Ramos for a 2-0 Island Trees advantage. Despite a late Clarke goal, the Bulldogs held on.

“It was a well-played game by both teams,” said Island Trees Coach Schneider after the game. “We look forward to playing them but we also dread it. The games are as even as it gets.”

Division will host Island Trees at 6. Also in action Tuesday is MacArthur's girls soccer team, who had a bye in the first round. They host Baldwin at 7.

To view a full recap of Island Trees' victory over Clarke, click here.