Lady Rams Fall to Red Raiders' Aggressive Offense, 3-1

The Clarkstown Norths Rams played some excellent girls soccer Monday, but fell to the Red Raiders of North Rockland and their tremendous offense, 3-1.

Both teams came out hard and played solid soccer, however, consistent pressure from North Rockland's offense gave them numerous scoring attempts.  This allowed them to eventually break through Clarkstown North's defense and ultimately wear them down by the end.

"We didn't play great, but the girls maintained their composure," said North Rockland's Head Coach Jennifer Czumak.  "They played very patiently, passed well, and swung the ball around.  That's a lot to ask of a team not to panic, but we have a lot of seniors on the team and I think that patience started the turnaround, because North did a great job all game defensively."

Though the Rams got some solid plays in offensively, they played a little too much kickball and forced their passes at times.  As a result, they had difficulty getting the ball to the Raiders goal area and keeping it there.

"Their offense makes their defense that much better," said Rams Head Coach Eric Kurz.  "What happens is the girls get frustrated and kick the ball away, so they're not really tested.  Though a 3-1 loss is frustrating, we played exactly the way we wanted to play, but we just didn't finish."

The first half began with some solid back and forth soccer, though the Raiders maintained possession of the ball for the majority of the time.  This was due to their effective passing and ability to win 50/50 balls.  Thanks to the hard play and pressure from both sides, neither team was able to score a goal until halfway through. 

Then, with just under 20 minutes to go, the Rams got a penalty kick.  Senior defender Elizabeth Pahiakos lined up and rocketed the ball straight at the Raiders goal.  Their goalie, Gabby Curtis, was there to get her hands on it, however she couldn't control the powerful shot and the ball bounced in to put the Rams up 1-0.  "It was awesome, my first time scoring in four years," said Pahiakos.

The Raiders turned it up a notch after that to increase their time in possession with excellent aggressiveness and pressure, while still passing and executing plays effectively.  The Rams defense kept up with them, however the Raiders constant pressure on the goal allowed them numerous opportunities, 

Despite the very solid defense of goalie Brooke Schwartz and the rest of the Rams defense, the Raiders eventually broke through.  Tying it up was North Rockland's Nicole Aylmer crossing to Andy Curcio, who slid to reach the ball and kick it in with Schwartz out of position.

The half ended with the game tied, as both teams battled back and forth but could make no headway.  The Raiders kept up the pressure in the second to eventually score past the stellar defense of the Rams.  After a great save by Schwartz, the Raiders almost immediately got the ball back to continue their relentless attack.  It was Eleni Anselmi who fired high and hard to bury it in the back of the net and put the Raiders up 2-1 with thirteen minutes to go.

With the momentum in their favor, they didn't let up, and just two minutes later, they scored again.  Anselmi was in on the play again, and she would cross to Aylmer open in front of the goal to score.  This would be the final goal of the game, as the Raiders and the Rams battled it out for the final ten minutes of the half.

Going up against the undefeated Raiders, the Rams knew they were in for a tough game, and that's exactly what they got. Schwartz had an excellent night with 12 saves in total.  Curtis had a solid one as well, with five saves for the night, though she was not put to work as hard as Schwartz.  Despite the loss, the Rams put up an excellent effort, which they were very pleased with.

"We played well the entire game," said Kurz.  "You've gotta play well against North Rockland the entire 80 minutes.  We didn't have the time to prepare for them this week because of the weather, but trusted people to perform in different situations.  They knew they had to defend, we counted on them, and they did amazingly well."  He added, "We've played them enough to know we had to stop 19, 7, 15.  They're all very good, so we knew we needed to stop them and make them rely on other people offensively."

Pahiakos agreed, saying "We did amazingly back there and shut down everything.  We shut down Francesca which was huge."

The Rams are now 2-3-2, as they look to improve on their season when they play again at 4 p.m. Wednesday at East Ramapo.