Girls Soccer: Albertus Falls to Clarkstown South in Overtime

The Clarkstown South Vikings and Albertus Magnus Falcons battled it out Tuesday afternoon through two hard-fought, scoreless halves, and into two nail-biting overtimes, in a girls soccer game that was finally decided, 1-0, by a goal from South's Christina Jean-Charles.

Tough and competitive hustle-play characterized Tuesday's game. Overall, the Vikings possessed the ball well to keep a lot of pressure on the Falcons' defense.  Despite their solid offensive effort, they were repelled by the Falcons' defense and their goalie, Tara Condon, again and again.  They matched the Falcons' excellent defensive effort with a great one of their own, as they marked players and cleared the ball well to keep the Falcons scoreless.

"I think we possessed the ball better than they did, but we just couldn't find the net even with a lot of chances, and finally did," said South's Head Coach Tom Rolston.  He added, "We didn't let them get too many chances, and I'm happy that we stuck it through."

The Falcons combated the Vikings impressive offense with their scrappy defense to keep the Vikings at bay for most of the game.  At the center of this effort was Condon, who was put to work with many spectacular saves.  Offensively, the Falcons came right back at South with many solid drives of their own.  However, the Falcons played a bit too much kickball at times and, as a result, did not get as much penetration as the Vikings on many of their drives.

"I think we played very good soccer and shut them out for 88 minutes," said Falcons' Head Coach John Crapanzano.  "It was the type of game that you see and think, 'it should have ended 0-0.'"

While the first half was filled with much back and forth play, overall, the Vikings were better able to maintain possession of the ball than the Falcons.  The Falcon defense was up to the challenge, however, as they stopped each Viking drive and sent the ball up the field for their offense to come right back with drives of their own.  The Vikings in turn repelled the Falcons' spirited drives with solid, hustle defense to close the half scoreless.

The second half began with an excellent drive from the Falcons, which the Vikings eventually repelled to go on a drive of their own that very nearly ended in a goal, if not for a great effort by Condon.  As the intensity picked up, both teams continued to run hard as they drove the ball back and forth between the two goals.  However, neither team could find the net, and the match went into overtime.

The Vikings then upped their game in the first overtime to maintain possession of the ball and put a lot of pressure on the Falcons' defense.  Finally, the Vikings connected on a scoring opportunity.  With the Vikings driving in, it was Allison Kopunek passing to Jean-Charles running on the left who buried the ball in the back of the net.  This put the Vikings up 1-0 and would be the only and winning goal of the game.

The Vikings did not let up after this, as they continued to pressure the ball.  The Falcons fought back hard and made some solid drives of their own, however, neither team was able to score in the remainder of the first or the second overtime.  In the end, it was a great effort by both teams, with the Vikings forcing one through to win it in the end.

For Jean-Charles, the Vikings' success in overtime was largely due to team chemistry.  "We started to carry the ball better," said Jean-Charles.  "The defenders were able to connect better and get the ball up to the midfielders."

The Vikings improve to a record of 8-3, while the Falcons are now at 4-5-1 for the season.

Despite the loss, Falcons' defender Lauren Gruffi admitted it was still a confidence booster.  "Coming into the game, we knew we were up against a really good team," said Gruffi.  "It just shows that we can play with anyone."

The Falcons play next at Nanuet on Thursday at 4 p.m.  The Vikings play next at Clarkstown North on Thursday at 6 p.m.