Freshman Power: Youngsters Lead Lady Colts to Victory in Soccer Opener

The Calhoun girls soccer team closed out last year's season with loads of questions to answer and holes to patch up.

On Monday, the Lady Colts took a big first step toward that goal in 2010 with a dramatic 4-3 win over a tough Baldwin Bruins team in their season opener at home.

"It was a great start to the season," Calhoun's second-year coach Lori Biscardi said. "They never gave up when we fell behind."

This win was about the newcomers to the team, as three of the four Calhoun goals were accounted for by freshmen.

One of those freshman, forward Taylor Sipos, gave her team an early lead with a goal just six minutes in. Sipos nearly put in a second just minutes later, but Baldwin senior defender N'dea Johnson headed away the near-goal with the keeper out of position.

The next 40 minutes of play went in the other direction as Baldwin dominated possession and fought back to take a 2-1 lead with goals from Johnson and sophomore Ayanna Smith in the beginning of the second half.  Johnson would later add a second goal just before the final whistle blew.

However, the resilient Lady Colts fired off three straight second-half goals in a 12-minute span to take a two-goal lead. Freshman Kayla Cappuzzo beat a defender in the box and put a ball in the top corner to knot up the score at 2-2.

"The ball came loose, and I had a girl tight in on me so I crossed it back into the box and let the shot go," said Cappuzzo of her goal that swung the momentum in Calhoun's favor. 

Just 10 minutes later, sophomore Michelle Iacono ripped a shot from just inside the box to give Calhoun the lead.  That was followed shortly by a goal from freshman Nora Charidah off of a free kick from Carla Miguel.

Coach Biscardi was impressed with the start her young players had.

"Michelle played unbelievable at midfield along with Kayla," she said. "The two were phenomenal on the field together. They know the game so well and how to play the ball and play it to others."

Baldwin has been searching for a replacement for its top scorer last year, Olivia Antonopoulos. The Bruins speedy forwards were constantly pressured by the Calhoun defensive front and great goaltending by sophomore Alissa Battaglia, who finished with four saves.

"It was a good game to start out with. But if we score three goals, I expect to win the game," Baldwin coach Darius Burton said. "If we are up 2-1, we need to close out and put it away, but it turned around to hurt us this time."

Baldwin has a Wednesday match up against a tough East Meadow team, where the young Lady Bruins squad will look to turn things around.

"We're a young team. I've got a lot of new people so we just need to keep working and reinforce things over and over again," Burton said of his girls.

One of the goal scorers for Calhoun, Michelle Iacono, controlled the midfield, stringing lead passes to Cappuzzo and Sipos to set up chances when the lanes opened up.

"It was a great way to start off the season," Iacono said. "We need to play every time like that, with effort, staying strong through the whole game and I think we'll do great the rest of the season."

It was a non-league win for Calhoun, which will be playing out of Conference III this season.

The intensity gets turned up a notch Wednesday afternoon as the Lady Colts host Calhoun Valley Stream Central at 4:30 p.m. for their first league battle.