By Lori Brown
FALLSBURG — September 28, 2007 — The Fallsburg Lady Comets hosted the Sullivan West Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday in a Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division IV soccer match.
Although both teams have had a difficult start to their season, both the Lady Bulldogs and Lady Comets came into the game with a lot of energy.
Six different players scored as SW recorded a 6-1 victory. With the win, SW improved its record to 2-7 overall and 1-3 in Division IV.
Fallsburg fell to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in Division IV.
About 10 minutes into the contest, Fallsburg’s Erinn Gilmore scored on a direct kick to give her team a 1-0 lead.
Unfortunately for Gilmore and her teammates, that was the only goal they would tally on the afternoon.
One minute later, SW’s Lindsey Bauer also scored from a direct kick from the top of the penalty box to knot the match at 1-1.
Midway through the first half, a hand ball was called on a Lady Comet. SW’s Sarah Lander successfully converted the subsequent penalty kick to give the Lady Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.
A few minutes later, SW’s Morgan Edwards gave her team a 3-1 advantage. Edwards’ shot ricocheted off a Fallsburg player directly into the net.
During the first half, SW enjoyed a 17-8 advantage in shots on goal.
About 10 minutes into the second half, SW’s Katrina Graby scored a goal with an assist from Lander.
Sullivan West kept its momentum going when Shelby Grishaber scored a goal about 10 minutes later to extend the Lady Bulldogs’ advantage to 5-1.
A few minutes later, Sarah Shirdon scored the final goal of the match thanks to an assist from Bauer.
During the last 15 minutes of the game both teams played very good defense and neither team scored.
SW outshot Fallsburg in the match by a 35-10 margin. SW also enjoyed a 7-0 advantage in corner kicks.
SW goalie Kristen Niemann made four saves. Jillian Fife, who replaced Niemann in the second half, made one save.
Fallsburg goalie Ashley Hong made 14 saves in the match.
SW Coach Mike Ellmauer said Fallsburg has improved its game since last season.
“Coach Amanda Biccum from Fallsburg does a nice job and her team is playing well,” he said.
“This is our fourth game in six days and we came out tired,” Ellmauer added. “I saw good scoring from the girls. Now we are getting ready for our next game. Hopefully we turned the corner – every game we are getting better and better.”
Biccum said her team needs to work on communication and trust.
“Other weak points are the girls don’t look up enough,” she said.
“Also, there is no junior varsity team because there are not enough girls, so it is hard to teach them when they get to the varsity level,” Biccum continued.
One of the Lady Comets’ strong points is the number of seniors playing this year.
“These seniors have a strong desire to win and they are very talented girls,” Biccum said.  “Some of the strong players include, Erinn Gilmore, Dayna Halprin, Jessica Brignoll, Demi Cruz, and our goalie, Ashley Hong.”
“Our team has very good sportsmanship,” Biccum said.
Biccum noted that she has coached the seniors since they were freshman. She said she has watched them grow and improve and would like to see them start winning.