Close was not Good Enough in Somers Loss to Tappan Zee

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On Thursday September 3, Somers opened the season at home versus Tappan Zee and no doubt the elephants won the battle for the crossbar. 3-1 in favor of the Tuskers, the proximity unfortunately didn’t translate to the scoreboard.

At 33:13, Nina Sandhage got the rebound off the high bar and found the net for a 1-0 Dutchmen victory.

Nonetheless, the first near miss came off the stifling defense of Ashley Kuchinsky and Natalie D’Ippolito. Both made gritty plays in the early going and got the ball traveling in the Somers direction. 

Maeve Cleary taking the sideline outlet, she passed into Aurora Riley, and she got the first clang at 34:40. Unable to get a foot on the rebound, Tappan Zee cleared and began their series of sighs of relief. 

Four minutes later, Kuchinsky got things started again. She got the clear, Kate Handford took over from there, and the ball then put on Riley’s foot went wide at 29:40 of the first half.

That left the next near miss to Tappan Zee. Riley Sardo took a long pass behind the Somers defense, and the race was on. Olivia Tatela by a nose, the scoreboard remained unblemished, and Alexis Amurao got her time to shine next.

Molly Cutler received the ball ahead on the sideline, centered to Cleary and she triangulated to Riley. One person to beat, Riley could only wince when Amurao registered a kick save at 21:25.

Despite the disappointment, Kuchinsky and D’Ippolito were not deterred. Kuchinsky was headstrong twice to thwart Dutchmen drives, and D’Ippolito went feet first to slide tackle another furious advance. 

Back in play, the Somers attack got its best chance. Starting again with Kuchinsky, she willed her head to the ball twice, and the determination sent the offense on its horse. 

From the far sideline, Riley galloped the ball into Amelia Marcus, she passed outside to Angie Giron, and with the defense spread, her pass landed back on the foot of Marcus. The net wide open, Marcus went over the crossbar at 8:05.

Back the other way, Tatela took her turn in being nearly caged. With two minutes left in the half, Emerson Prendergast got free on the right, and her hook wasn’t quite true enough for Tatela’s diving save.

Onto the second, both teams couldn’t connect on good opportunities, but Somers made the most noise for the second time. The ball came to Giron at the 25, she controlled and dropped it for Hanford. On a tee, the middie swung away and chipped the paint at the 35 minute mark.

Of course, Somers was tempting fate. So on the Tappan Zee penalty kick, the ball found a Dutchmen head, then the crossbar and Sandhage was able to control and cash in for the deciding moment.

Even so, the Tuskers weren’t giving in. On the right with 25 minutes left, Riley put Amurao on her toes and then some. The goalie leapt, and her outstretched deflection carried over the top of the crossbar.

Two minutes later, Carpenter left Amurao out of the action with her shot. The third time not the charm, the thud once again didn’t put a dent in the score, and even though the girls kept coming with a number of good chances, they were forced to accept that this just wasn’t their day.

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