Pearl River Girls Soccer Finally Beats Byram Hills [VIDEO]

The Pearl River girls soccer team finally kicked the door down Thursday.

After falling short in previous playoff battles with Byram Hills, the Pirates scored with just under 12 minutes remaining and held on for a 2-1 victory over the Bobcats in the Section 1 Class A quarterfinals at the Orangetown Mighty Midgets Soccer Complex in Orangeburg.

"Every year I've been on the team, Byram has kicked us out of sections," said Pearl River junior Amanda DeCourcey. "Since 9th grade. It's the best feeling. They beat us every year and our season opener (this season) and we finally ended their season."

"Give Pearl River all the credit in the world," Byram Hills Coach Bryan Horn said. "I have a lot of respect for (Pearl River Coach) Tim (Peabody). His girls came out hard and they beat us."

No. 4 Pearl River will now play on the road against top-ranked Somers 2:15 p.m. Friday. The winner of that contest goes to the Section 1 championship game 3 p.m. Sunday at Yorktown High School.

"After this one, anything is possible," DeCourcey said.

The start certainly was not promising, with Byram Hills taking a 1-0 lead only 55 seconds into the game.

"I can't tell you why we gave up a goal after 55 seconds, but I told the girls this was going to be a battle," Peabody said. "It's probably not going to be the prettiest in terms of ball possession, but we're an aggressive team. We try to score goals.

"I think the most important thing today was we were physical and we were aggressive and we made plays because we didn't back off. We've been too much finesse at times. In order to win a big game like this, you have to be physical."

The Pirates put the pressure on trying to tie the game up most of the first half, finally breaking through when junior Caitlin Noonan scored with only three seconds left before halftime.

"As soon as she turned and she hit it and it was going to the far post, I jumped before it went in because I thought it was going in," Peabody said. "It was huge because we were putting the pressure on. We needed a goal to get back to square one."

"It was really important because we were down from that first goal they scored," Noonan said.

Neither team could score until a strong individual effort by junior Marissa Scognamiglio created a chance with under 12 minutes remaining. Scognamiglio beat a defender down the right sidelne and fed a crossing pass to DeCourcey, who chipped it in to give the Pirates the 2-1 lead they would not lose.

"That was all Missy," DeCourcey said. "That was the perfect cross. All I had to do was touch it in. I can't even put into words (how that felt). It's the best feeling."

"That was just fabulous," Peabody said. "Missy Scognamiglio puts the ball by the kid, goes tot he corner and puts a chip on the ball. She doesn't drive it, she chips it ot the back post. And Amanda DeCourcey, who is a terrific all-around player, waited, took her time and finished."

Pearl River senior goalkeeper Francesca Cobuzzi backed a solid defense that blanked the Bobcats for the final 70 minutes with eight saves.