Girls Soccer Preview: Yorktown Huskers

If Yorktown is to continue its winning tradition, it will have to find a way to replace scoring machine Samantha Russo, who graduated in June.

"It's difficult, there is going to be no way of replacing Sam," Yorktown coach Rich Armstrong said. "She finished her career here with 85 goals and 35 assists. She has already scored a number of goals up in college at the University of Scranton, she's doing well there, which is great to hear."

One of the Huskers who will have to step up without Russo is senior forward Katie Johnson.

Johnson came to Yorktown from England her junior year, when the team won its league last season. She is talented and has good vision. Armstrong will put her up top with a couple of other players who have not been determined yet. 

"Anywhere outside if Katie is left alone, she has got a great shot on goal," Armstrong said. "She is very aggressive, she is good out of the air which is great for us with balls being served in from the flanks. She works hard. She doesn't have the speed but she makes up for it in other aspects of her game."

One of the senior co-captains for this year's Husker squad is midfielder Cleo Reiss, and Armstrong said he expects a lot out of Reiss this season.

"I think we are going to get a lot of leadership from her out of the middle," Armstrong said. "She's been with me the past three years here on varsity. She just works hard, she plays within herself, she has a decent first touch, she controls the ball well. I certainly expect her to control the midfield."

Senior co-captain midfielder Kristin Hodgkinson is an athlete similar to Reiss, just with a little bit more speed. Armstrong said he looks for Hodgkinson to be active out of the midfield, making runs off the ball in open spaces.

When it comes to leading the team, Armstrong is more than confident that Reiss and Hodgkinson will do an outstanding job.

"They both came in with great leadership and I think the rest of the kids recognize that," Armstrong said. 

Another key returning player for the Huskers is junior midfielder Toriana Patterson, who is a physical player. Patterson is excellent at holding the ball, has great presence on the field. She is also a hard worker and good out of the air with goal kicks, headers and corners.

To move the ball forward, the team looks for junior stopper Amanda Mersits, who is aggressive and has one of the highest work rates on the team. Armstrong said she does a good job in distributing the ball.

Senior Sonja Gspurning brings to the field great size to her sweeper position and should do well there. A key newcomer for the Huskers is freshman outside-back Heidi Gspurning who brings with her a lot of technical and tactical ability to the game, Armstrong said.

"Heidi is fast, she distributes the ball well," Armstrong said. "She is one of the better freshman we have had coming through the program and I certainly expect her to get a lot of minutes each game."

As for what Armstrong expects this year, it's hard to pinpoint specifics because of the new realignment.

"They always realign the leagues and again it happened this year," Armstrong said. "It's crazy how things change from year to year. But our goals as a team are to be very competitive. We take things day to day to and see what happens, but I would hope that we would be in contention to win the league and prepare ourselves for a good sectional run."

2010 Yorktown Schedule

Sept. 7 @ North Salem 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 11 Mahopac @ Yorktown Tournament 5 p.m.

Sept. 13 Yorktown Tournament 5 or 7 p.m.

Sept. 15 Lakeland 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 17 @ Mahopac 3:45 p.m.

Sept. 21 @ Arlington 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 23 Ketcham 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 27 @ Harrison 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 30 @ John Jay 4:30 p.m.

Oct. 5 Carmel 4:30 p.m.

Oct. 7 Somers 4:30 p.m.

Oct. 8 Brewster 4:30 p.m.

Oct. 13 John Jay 4:30 p.m.

Oct. 15 @ Brewster 4:30 p.m. 

Oct. 19 @ Carmel 4:30 p.m. 

Oct. 21 @ Somers 4:30 p.m.