By Rob Potter
ROSCOE — November 3, 2000 – For the second consecutive year, the Roscoe Lady Blue Devils ended the soccer season a bit early from the viewpoint of the Sullivan West/Delaware Valley girls’ booters.
Last year, Roscoe (13–5–1) knocked off SW/DV (9–7–2) in the Section IX — Class D championship match. On Wednesday, Roscoe took a step closer to defending that title by defeating SW/DV by a 3-1 margin.
Senior striker Danielle Austin scored her 44th, 45th and 46th goals of the season in leading the Lady Blue Devils to the win.
Roscoe, the second seed in the Class D tourney, will face fifth-seeded Sullivan West/Jeffersonville-Youngsville at 2 p.m. today in Monticello for the Section IX — Class D crown.
Austin scored her first goal 20:48 into the match. She got control of the ball and beat a pair of defenders as she moved closer to the SW/DV goal. She then sent a low shot to the far corner of the net past SW/DV goalie Danielle Peters.
The Lady Blue Devil momentum was stifled nine minutes later when Lady Eagle midfielder Michelle Peters sent the ball past goalie Chrissy Rosencranse from about 15 feet away to knot the score at 1-1.
Exactly two minutes later, with 9:45 remaining until halftime, Austin scored her second goal of the day. On an unassisted tally, she sent the ball to the corner of the SW/DV net.
Austin gave her team some more breathing room when she garnered the hat trick with 19:18 remaining in the contest.
“Danielle Austin played a good, strong match,” SW/DV coach Mike Mahoney said. “She definitely went strong to every ball she thought she could win.”
While Mahoney praised Austin’s performance, he added that the person whom he thought made the difference in the match was Roscoe defender Staci Fersch.
“Staci kept the backs organized and everyone in position,” Mahoney said. “She kept their defense strong.”
Roscoe coach Mary Austin noted that “it was a good scoring day” for her daughter, Danielle, and complimented her squad’s defensive efforts.
“Staci (Fersch) always does a good job of organizing our backs,” Austin said. “And our sweeper Jenna Bowers and wing fullbacks Jessie Lake and Melissa Gayron all provide strong defensive support for our offense. They do a great job of getting the ball up to our offense. And Amber Gray does a nice job when she substitutes into that group.”
Rosencranse was credited with nine saves, while Danielle Peters stopped 13 Roscoe shots.
Mahoney said that his relatively young team — half of the team consists of first year players — had a good season.
“The future looks good,” he said. “This game was a strong building block for them.”
Mahoney added that all four of the SW/DV seniors — Debbie Knack, Erika Long, Alicia Peters and Carli VanWagenen — all “did a good job today” and will be missed next season.
Mary Austin, meanwhile, was looking forward to playing at least one more match this season.
“Hopefully we can go all the way in sectionals,” she said.