Field Hockey: Mottola’s Goal Helps Sleepy Hollow Tie Briarcliff 1-1

You could not ask for a better game as two neighboring squads, who are among the elite teams in their league, squared off on Tuesday, Oct. 19.

Briarcliff (8-2-2) and host Sleepy Hollow (8-2-3), both battled as hard as they could, each wanting victory desperately but in the end neither got their wish as the contest ended in a 1-1 tie.

Emily Mottola scored Sleepy Hollow's lone goal in the first half which put the Lady Horsemen up 1-0. She said that the goal was a team effort.

"Jennifer (Angevine) hit it in and Andrea (Alvarez) pushed it around the pads and I put it in the goal," Mottola said. "To get up 1-0 on Briarcliff, we were just so excited. We're two of the top teams in the league so it was a pretty big game. We play them once more next week (at Briarcliff on Oct. 26) so it's going to be intense again."

Briarcliff looked like it was going to tie the game before halftime – with less than 10 seconds remaining in the first half the Bears put on one final rush. However, Sleepy Hollow goalie Daniela Uribe was able to make two saves, one with her pads and another with a kick to preserve a 1-0 lead.

"She came out and stopped some potential goals," Sleepy Hollow coach Melissa Alamprese said.

Unfortunately for the Lady Horsemen, the Bears kept peppering the goal and finally tied it with 19:20 left in the game on a goal by Jessica Colton, with the assist coming from Joanna Chalsen.

Briarcliff though couldn't get ahead. The biggest reason why was the play of Gianna Volpe, who did a great job in helping the Lady Horsemen preserve the tie.

"I want to recognize Gianna Volpe who played tremendously in the second half," Alamprese said. "She was able to stop their transition. She is the reason why we stayed 1-1."

Alamprese said that Volpe is one of those players you don't normally notice because she plays a lot of defense but she plays a vital role on the team because she creates a lot transition going towards the offensive end.

"She cuts off a lot of the other team's transition plays," Alamprese said. "She's a flyer on the other team's corners. She's just huge out there when it comes to pushing the ball up the field, getting it to the right players and slowing down the other team's players with the ball and that's important in this game."

What's also important is being able to finish and that is something that Sleepy Hollow has improved dramatically in after winning just one game a year ago.

"Last year it's not that we were not playing as well we just couldn't finish," Mottola said. "We didn't have that last touch to get it in the goal. A lot of the games, it wasn't like we were getting blown out, it was like 1-0 or 2-0. We just couldn't finish. This year we are doing a lot better job connecting and talking so we can get that final touch on it or deflect it around the goalkeeper."