By Ted Waddell
FALLSBURG — October 8, 2004 – For the Fallsburg Lady Comets, the 2004 soccer season is a season that really never got its foot on the ball.
On Wednesday, the visiting Lady Bears of Tri-Valley defeated Fallsburg 7-0 in an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division V match.
In posting its fifth shutout of the year, T-V improved its record to 5-5 overall and 1-3 OCIAA. Fallsburg fell to 1-5 and 0-3 OCIAA.
In the first four minutes of the first half, the Lady Bears set the tone of the game by scoring three goals. Maria Jeltsch scored an unassisted at 38:55, Nikki Dean tallied a goal at 38:00 on an assist by Cindi Seibert and at 36:18 Eileen Krom scored thanks to an assist by Danielle Musa.
At 21:34, Julie Shovlin scored on an assist by Dean, and at 37:04 Dean beat Lady Comets’ goalkeeper Abby Smassanow on an assist by Heather McArthur.
In the second half, Melissa Bachmann scored on an assist from Ackerley at 10:05. Then at the 36:30 mark, Dean racked up her third goal of the match on an assist by Shovlin.
Smassanow was credited with 15 saves in the contest, while T-V goalie Kaylie Ackerley had five saves in the first half. Kayla Greenspan was the Lady Bear goalie in the second half.
“We came out cold in the first half,” said Fallsburg Coach Lee Smassanow. “We didn’t help ourselves… we crossed the ball in front of the net and let the balls walk in.
“It makes it difficult to play a game of soccer when you’re helping the other team,” he added.
The Lady Comet coach also noted that in the second half, his team “toughened up and played a little more competitively.”
This year, the Lady Comets are taking to the field minus the expertise of 11 graduated seniors.
“For a majority of the kids, it’s their first time playing varsity soccer,” he added. “It takes time to get up to speed.”
T-V Coach Mary Feusner once again proved she is a classy coach.
After her booters scored a trio of goals in the first four minutes of the match, she started rotating subs left and right and told her team to concentrate on its passing game, rather than racking up the score.
“I liked what we did, because we set out to play as a team today,” Feusner said.
“It’s our fifth shutout of the season, and that’s a nice compliment to the girls,” she added.