By Ted Waddell
WASHINGTONVILLE — November 5, 2002 – Sometimes cliches are right spot on the money. While both teams were talented enough to qualify for a championship game, somebody’s going to win and somebody’s going to lose.
On Friday, the three-time defending Section IX Class C girls soccer champs made it four in a row, as the Lady Torandoes of Tuxedo defeated the Tri-Valley Lady Bears 3-1 at Washingtonville High School.
Tuxedo (15-2) scored the first goal of the match at about the eight minute mark, as Dariel Nowak beat T-V keeper Lauren Dilberian to the punch.
At 13:55, Liz Lowe evened it up for the Lady Bears to make it a 1-1 ballgame.
However, the rest of the first half was all Tuxedo. Krystle Paccione scored at 21:34 on an assist by Erin Roth. At 39:02, Nowak scored unassisted.
The second half was scoreless.
In the closing minutes of the game, a wind driven rain turned to sleet which dampened the players and spectators, but did not seem to dull the players’ competitive edge.
“I think we had a very rough start,” Tuxedo Coach Joe DiMattina said. “Even though we scored three goals in the first half, we didn’t play very well. It seemed like we just weren’t there.
“Tri-Valley came out very strong,” he added. “They had a lot of confidence and played tough.”
T-V (10-8-2) took to the field Friday on the heels of a four-game winning streak, beating Liberty, Roscoe (twice) and Chester to make it to the sectional finals.
“I like how we played on both sides of the ball,” T-V Coach Mary Feusner said.
According to Fuesner, while the Lady Bears held the Lady Tornadoes scoreless in the second half, they got into trouble by getting jammed up in the goal box.
“We had a tendency to watch the ball instead of taking care of business,” she said.
Asked to provide a thumbnail sketch of the soccer season, Feusner said it was frustrating because “we lost a player here and there for various reasons.”
“We had some shining stars,” Feusner added. She cited the play of Heather Bachmann, goalie Dilberian and Lowe.
“A lot of players had to step up their game,” Feusner said.#