South Field Hockey Shuts Out North

The Clarkstown South field hockey team notched two first-half goals on its way to a 2-0 victory against Clarkstown North Wednesday at home.

"A North-South game is always going to be close no matter what," South Coach Jordan Turner said. "This is kind of early in the year to have North-South, but it was still a close game."

About midway through the first half, South senior Jessica Masciovechio kicked off the scoring by knocking one passed North goalie Nicole Cember. Shortly after, South doubled its lead after a scrum in front of the goal led to a penalty shot, which was then banked off the left goal post.

"North-South games are always kind of intense," North Coach Danielle Trainor said. "Both teams played hard, but unfortunately we came up on the short end of the stick this time."

Trainor added that the Rams (1-2) have to improve on offense as the season progresses.

"We need to maintain possession of the ball better," she said. "We have a veteran defense, but a pretty young offense."

Turner said the Vikings (2-1) also need to improve on offense going forward.

"We need to continue to work on spreading the ball out all over the field," he said.

While she did let up two goals, Cember stopped plenty more shots fired at her by South. Shortly after the second South goal, the Vikings' Sarah Sansone rocketed a shot at goal from long, but Cember stopped it with her large orange shin pads. She kicked away another shot before the half ended, and then blocked a shot early in the second half and kicked the ball out bounds before a bevy of Vikings near the goal could attempt to score on a rebound.

South's defense barely even let the Rams get a clear shot on goal throughout the game. North's best scoring chance came late in the second half, when the Rams had a three-on-one fast break inching closer to South's goal. One Ram forward took the ball up toward the right corner of the field, but before she could pass it to either of her teammates running downfield with her, South's Kate Pederson knocked the ball away to preserve the shutout.

North had one last attempt to score a point right before the final buzzer, but a one-timer went errant, as North's Emilie Cooper knocked the ball, already in the air, even higher and too far left, causing it to soar passed the goal.

Both teams are off until next Wednesday, when the Vikings are on the road to face Nanuet and the Rams are home against North Rockland. Both games are at 4 p.m.