By Lori Brown
GRAHAMSVILLE — On Saturday, Tri-Valley Lady Bears won the 19th annual T-V Girls’ Soccer Invitational Tournament on Saturday afternoon by defeating Ellenville, 3-1, in the title match.
The championship contest between the Lady Bears and Lady Blue Devils – as well as the consolation match pitting the Eldred Lady Yellowjackets against the Monticello Lady Panthers – was originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 6, but was postponed by inclement weather.
The Eldred vs. Monticello consolation match will be played at 10 a.m. this Saturday, Sept. 20 in Grahamsville.
T-V (4-0) dominated the entire first half of the title contest. The Lady Bears scored three goals and prevented Ellenville (1-2) from scoring.
Jakki Pugh recorded the first goal of the game with an assist from Agnes Pompeii in the 13th minute. Skylar Musa scored an unassisted goal in the 28th minute to give T-V a 2-0 advantage.
With less than a minute remaining until halftime, Agnes Pompeii tallied a goal on an assist from Pugh.
The Lady Blue Devils played great defense during the second half, holding T-V scoreless during those 40 minutes.
Katie Burns scored Ellenville’s only goal of the match when her shot from about 25 yards found the back of the net just three minutes into the second half.
The Lady Blue Devils pressured the T-V defense in the remaining minutes, but could not register another goal.
T-V Coach Mary Feusner was very pleased with the first half of the game.
“We put in three goals, which kept our momentum going,” she said. “The front line made good runs in the [goal] box. Skylar Musa and Agnes Pompeii both scored their first goals of the season, while Jakki Pugh has a total of five goals.
“Senior Ellen Williams, our goalie, played her best game today,” Feusner added. “During the second half, Ellenville regrouped and organized and had a better passing game.”
Feusner noted that a couple of her players were missing from the game, so she brought up three junior varsity players to help: freshmen Sara Schreyer and Rachel Adriaans and eighth-grader Marenna DiMilia.
“They played well on the varsity level,” the veteran coach commented. “The girls were able to sub when others need rest and drinks.
“My three captains – Karyn Sheeley, Amanda Martin and Skylar Musa – played great soccer toady,” Feusner said.
Ellenville Coach Nikki Krom noted that position changes helped her team.
“In the second half, we switched players around to mark up some of Tri-Valley’s players,” she said. “We also regrouped and we passed more and had more opportunities.
“We knew we had to come back in the second half and play better,” Krom added. “We had more shots on goal, but some open goals were missed.”
Krom noted that her team’s top performers were Vicky Mann, Burns and Sabrina Castro.
“Vicky Mann played striker and made the front line run,” Krom said. “Katie Burns controlled the middle of the field. Sabrina Castro played great defense and had a tough game today.
“Everyone played harder in the second half, but we could not come up with the goals.”
Trophies were presented following the match.
For the 12th time in tournament history, T-V earned the first place trophy. Ellenville, which was trying to defend its title from last autumn, received the second place trophy.
The all-tournament team included Burn, Castro and Mann from Ellenville and T-V’s Pugh and Williams.
T-V’s Amanda Martin was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and T-V’s Karyn Sheeley received the Ms. Defense award.