Girls Soccer: Huskers Fall in Overtime

This fall hasn't been a typical one for Yorktown. The Huskers, who won their league last year, entered the game against Carmel with a 1-6-1 record.

Those who were in attendance on what was cold night at Yorktown High School on October 5 saw a hard-working team whose effort didn't reflect its record. In what was a rematch of a Class AA playoff game last year won by Yorktown, this year Carmel took the rematch with a 2-1 win in overtime against the Huskers.

Yorktown did a good job controlling the ball at the beginning of the game. The Huskers started out with numerous offensive chances.

"A lot of it, we worked on combination play, was getting the ball forward," Yorktown coach Rich Armstrong said. "We haven't scored many goals this season so a lot of my focus at practice has been trying to get goals, get the ball forward. We did a decent job of possessing in the first half."

Yorktown kept on attacking Carmel's defense and its hard work paid off with 31:16 remaining in the opening half when open senior Nikki Fioretti took a shot and put it in the goal.

"It was great for us to get on the board," Armstrong said.

Fioretti described how she was able to get the Huskers on the scoreboard.

"It just came right at me and I kicked it as hard as I could," Fioretti said. "Fortunately for me it went in."

Fioretti said what made scoring the goal exciting for her was the fact that it was her first goal as a member of the Huskers since she started playing on the varsity team her sophomore year.

"Nikki has meant a lot to this team," Armstrong said. "She is what I call a role player who when she is on she does the right things. She always tracks back defensively. It's nice to see a kid who works hard be able to get a goal like that."

Yorktown continued to apply pressure when Colson Campbell took an excellent shot on goal with her shot just going wide right at the 23:43 mark of the opening half.

Carmel eventually put some pressure on the defense and scored to tie the game at 1-1 with 19:56 remaining before halftime. Tallying the tying goal was Casey Rucci with the assist coming from Rebecca Viebrock.

Yorktown continued to attach the goal with Courtney Cook nearly scoring before Carmel goalie Alissa Santullo, who registered 11 saves, made an excellent one on Cook to keep the score tied at 1-1 at the half.

Getting the type of pressure it did on Carmel in the opening half is something the Huskers had worked on in practice according to Armstrong. The Yorktown coach lamented the fact that his team only converted on one of its numerous opportunities.

"I thought they (his players) continued to fight," Armstrong said. "They had a couple of lapses here and there but overall played well. We had lot of opportunities. We didn't finish on them."

Carmel though had a lot of opportunities, one being when Shanna Guercio scored, with Rucci registering the assist, with just 6:53 remaining in the second overtime. Yorktown goalie Samantha Corrado, who played an outstanding game recording seven saves, had trouble corralling a wet ball while battling Guercio, thus allowing the game-winning goal to score.

"Sam has played tremendous for us this year," Armstrong said. "This is her first her on varsity. She's a hard working kid. It's hard for me to see a kid who plays so hard to get a tough break like that."