Season Preview: Briarcliff HS Girls Soccer

Two-time All-American Liana Cornacchio, Madison Kittay, Brianna Reid, Danielle Christiano and Savina Reid, who all graduated this June, will always have forever a place in history.

That’s because they were part of a run that included three straight state championships for the Bears varsity girls soccer team.

That run also included making it to last season’s Section 1 Class B title game, which it lost to Bronxville 2-1, leaving the Bears with their only loss in a season that they finished 19-1.

While their time at Briarcliff will never be forgotten, Coach Owen Scully is confident the Bears will continue to win because its program has stood the test of time.

Scully said he will always be grateful for what those five accomplished, but reiterated Briarcliff has been a Section 1 power for quite some time.

“We had a great program before they got here,” Scully said. “When they arrived is when we peaked, but this is a team that has been in the sectional finals for the last six years and made the regionals a year before they arrived. We have been a dominant program for a long time.”

Scully explained how Briarcliff will look to replace this year's losses to graduation.

“We’ll just look to build up the younger players that are in the program,” Scully said. “They are talented and they had some great role models to look up to. They have big shoes to fill but I am confident that they will work hard and do a good job.”

One of those talented younger Bears is sophomore midfielder/forward Lauren Miller.

“She gained some valuable experience playing with the other crew as a freshman last year so I expect her to display a lot of experience and be someone that the other players on the team can look too,” Scully said.

Scully said that Miller is a technically gifted player who plays the fast game very well, stating, “I expect her, along with the seniors that return, to make the charge to rebuild the program from the wonderful people that left."

One of those key senior returnees is defender/midfielder Maddy Shaw, who is a very tenacious defender and strong midfield player.

“Maddy has a great presence and a sense of the field and distributes the ball very well,” Scully said.

Senior midfielder/forward Sarah Elks provides the Bears with someone who excels at attack, has wonderful on the ball skills and has great vision of the field according to Scully.

Senior Gabriela De Frutos is also another senior who is an intricate part of the team who will play a key leadership role.

“Gabriela has the ability to play all different positions,” Scully said. “She is one of those wonderful players who has the ability to fill in and do well at any position that we put her in.”

De Frutos said that playing any position Scully puts her in isn’t a problem because it’s something that she is used to. She also credits the seniors who graduated from last year’s squad for being able to help her learn different positions.

“I have played around the entire field my whole life, I think my speed helps and I am able to learn quickly,” De Frutos said.

Scully feels that with these three seniors, combined with younger players like Miller, Briarcliff can successfully continue its winning tradition.

“We'll just take the older players, combine them with some younger players, we will develop them and build the team up again like we always have,” Scully said.

Briarcliff will start working to keep up its high standards when it opens its season at Valhalla at 5 p.m. Sept. 7 in the opening round of the Mount Pleasant Cup.

De Frutos and her teammates are working towards that game.

“We have been practicing hard and running five miles a day,” De Frutos said. “We lost a lot to graduation so we may not win 6-0 anymore, but there’s more than enough talent here to win games 3 to 2 and 2 to 1.”

Briarcliff then travels to play Scarsdale B at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 9.

The finals and the consolation of the cup will be 5:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. Sept. 10 at Valhalla.