By Rob Potter
ROSCOE — The Livingston Manor Lady Wildcats achieved one of their goals for this soccer season on Tuesday afternoon.
With a 1-0 victory over the host Roscoe Lady Blue Devils in an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division VI game, the Lady Wildcats – who had already clinched the Div. VI title – finished their division schedule with a perfect 8-0 record.
Manor, which finished the regular season with an overall record of 10-4-1, will now wait a few days before opening play in the Section IX Class D tournament. The girls’ soccer seeding meeting for Class D and the other classes within Section IX was scheduled to be held last night.
Freshman Samantha Scott scored the only goal of Tuesday’s contest at 31:08 of the first half with a shot to the left of Roscoe junior goalkeeper Kiera Browne.
Junior forward Christine Babich assisted Scott on the winning goal.
“She’s a freshman who has been coming along this season,” Manor Coach Shirlee Davis said of Scott. “She is doing a great job.”
Now the focus for Davis and the Lady Wildcats is on the upcoming sectionals.
Davis noted that “winning the division was one of our goals at the beginning of the season.” With that already accomplished, she and her players are focused on earning a return trip to the Section IX Class D championship match.
Last autumn, the Lady Wildcats were defeated 4-0 by the S.S. Seward Lady Spartans in the Class D title game at the Hudson Valley Sports Dome in Milton.
One of Roscoe’s best chances to score the tying goal occurred in the final minute of the contest.
With just 35 seconds remaining, senior Taylor DeVantier took a corner kick. She sent the ball into the goal box amid several players, but none of the Lady Blue Devils could gain control of the ball in order to send a shot at Manor senior goalkeeper Angela Trotti.
Trotti made eight saves on the day, while Browne had 29 saves for the Lady Blue Devils.
Roscoe Coach Brian Smith noted that his team lost both of its Div. VI games with Manor this season by only one goal. When the teams met in Manor earlier this fall, the Lady Wildcats prevailed, 2-1.
“I’m proud of my team,” Smith said. “We played great defense.
“I can’t say enough about the Manor program,” he added. “They are a great team. They are well-coached and play good offense and defense.”
Tuesday’s defeat left Roscoe with an overall record of 4-10 and a Div. VI record of 3-3.
However, Smith said that a victory in either in one or both of the Lady Blue Devils’ final two Div. VI matches against Eldred and The Family School should assure the team a spot in the sectional tournament.
Note: Roscoe defeated The Family School, 2-0, on Wednesday afternoon and was scheduled to play the Eldred Lady Yellowjackets yesterday afternoon at Brookwood Camp in Glen Spey