Varsity Girls Soccer Wins,Ties and Looks Forward to a Huge Week

The VGS team played two games this past week, and although a bit tired from their very competitive schedule, they were able to secure a win and a tie. This puts the Lady Panther's overall record at 6 wins, 1 loss and 3 ties. Their PSAA league mark stands at 3 wins ,0 losses and 2 ties and is currently good enough for third place in the PSAA Girls Soccer League. The girls have two of their most important matches of the season coming up this week as they will travel to Staten Island Academy ( currently in 4th place in the PSAA ) on Wednesday, and play Lawrence Woodmere ( currently undefeated in PSAA play) at the LWA Homecoming on Saturday. Victories in these two matches would secure a home field advantage in the semi finals of the PSAA play offs and go a long way to helping the team earn a spot in the NYSAISAA Tournament.

Who Did the Girls Play This Past Week?

Last Wednesday the VGS team took on a defensively minded side from the United Nations School of NYC. The Lady Panthers were able to score two first half goals because of some fine wing play from Sophomore Chelsea Caracciolo and Freshman Alex Devivo. Caracciolo set up the first tally went she got around her mark down the left side and sent one of her patented hard crosses in front of the UNIS goal. Sophomore half Monique Kelly was there to finish up the play and give Portledge a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later the Portledge halfbacks were able to quickly change fields during an attack and Devivo was isolated one on one against her defender along the right touch line. The speedy winger eluded her mark and sent a right footed rocket at the UNIS net. The UNIS goalie could not handle the hard shot and the rebound was there for the taking. An opportunistic Addie Reilly pounced on the loose ball and the Lady Panthers lead was 2-0 at halftime. During a second half that was dominated by Portledge possession Addie Reilly added her second goal of the game to put Portledge up 3-0 before a two goal burst by UNIS made the last few minutes much more tense than they should have been The 3-2 final was a victory for Portledge, but all involved would agree that their play was not that impressive on this day.

On Saturday the girls took on the Varsity Girls from Packer Collegiate in an important non league game. It was tense match throughout with Portledge carrying the play, but unable to break through a stubborn Packer defense. The Lady Panthers were playing without four starters out due to injury and illness, and wound up losing key defender Yola Yu during the game to a broken nose. Young players, such as forwards Alex Devivo and Marian Juste , and defender Natalie Gray stepped up to fill the holes and played some great soccer. Freshman Devivo was arguably the best player on the field as she was a consistent threat to the Packer goal. In fact it was this speedy youngster who finally broke through and gave Portledge the lead with a tremendous individual effort down the left side. After cutting back around several defenders Devivo sent a bullet shot towards the Packer net that the goaltender could not handle. The ball glanced off her hands and into the net and Portledge had a 1-0 lead with only 12 minutes remaining. Victory, however, was not to be had on this day. As the final minutes ticked away a Packer attacker got loose just outside the box and sent a beautiful shot into the Portledge net. The tie shouldn't hurt the girl's NYSAISAA Tournament chances as Packer is a quality team. Congratulations on a solid week and good luck in the big games later this week.