Girls Soccer: Bucci Boosts Sleepy's Offense

You can't be the top-scorer on the pitch without the help of your teammates.

Sleepy Hollow's Jamie Bucci realizes just that. She was a scoring machine for Sleepy Hollow this fall as she netted 15 goals in the Lady Horsemen's 16 games.

Bucci insists though that her scoring production is truly a team effort and that she has always had help along the way.

"It's never really been just about me, it was always someone else who was helping me," Bucci said. "This year it was Gillian Berger, last year it was Alexis (Bateman), the year before it was someone else."

Coming into this season, Bucci knew that Sleepy Hollow was going to rely on her to do the scoring.

"I knew they were going to count on me," Bucci said. "My teammates work hard to get the ball up to me and I just put it in. They are the ones that do all the work in getting the assist."

Tallying many of those assists on Bucci's goals this year was Berger, who is also a junior. 

"When you look at her assists, compared to my goals, it's probably the same amount," Bucci said. "Every goal I scored normally came from her side of the field. She crossed it and I was just there to put it in. I'm sure she had a lot of assists."

Bucci and Berger were able to connect up as successfully as they did in part due to their long history together. Both came up through the AYSO program. 

"We started playing together when we were like five," Bucci said. "Ever since then we always have had a bond on and off the field. There has always been a connection between us."

One of the highlights in Bucci's season came when she registered two goals and one assist in the Lady Horsemen's 6-0 triumph against visiting Keo on Oct. 8.

Another of Bucci's standout performances came in a 4-0 triumph against visiting Saunders on Oct. 12, when she tallied three goals.

"We went into that game not really knowing what to expect," Bucci said. "Because ever year when we play them it's something different. One year we lost to them 2-0. Last year, we beat them both times."

It was a game that Sleepy Hollow was phsyched for, she said.

"We were pretty fired up for that game," Bucci said. "It would have been a closer game if we didn't come out as fired up as we did."

Bucci said one of her more inspired games came at three-time state champion Briarcliff Oct. 22 in a 3-1 loss.

"That was one of our most exciting games because I had like four or five opportunities but I just couldn't put it in," Bucci said. "I was coming down the field on one play and I got tackled, a foul in the box. I got a penalty kick and that was the lone goal."

Bucci then tallied three goals in Sleepy Hollow's Oct. 28 Section 1 Class A playoff contest at Beacon, which gave the Lady Horsemen a 3-0 halftime lead before Beacon came back and won in overtime 5-3.

"We didn't feel our record (5-11) showed how good we were," Bucci said. "So we just wanted to show them that we were there to play. I thought that by scoring a few goals early it would get our team fired up to come through with the win but we just couldn't hold on but it was a good game."

While the season may have not gone the way Bucci and her teammates wanted record wise, Bucci feels the experience the junior-laden team gained this year will payoff next fall.

"Next year we are going to be awesome," Bucci said. "We are just graduating two players so we are all back next year. This year was a junior-driven team. Next year we are all going to be back and hopefully stronger then ever. We want to make sectionals again, win a few games and see how far we can go."