At Carmel
Class B
No. 9 Albertus Magnus vs. No. 2 Bronxville: The Falcons’ defense has steadily improved since the beginning of the year. Emily Motti is a rock in goal, Brianna Flores is a vocal leader, and Lauren Gruffi has held down some tough assignments this year. Albertus Magnus defeated No. 4 Kennedy at Kennedy — no small order. I watched that same Kennedy team go to Bronxville late this year and finish with a 0-0 tie. This is going to be a superb contest.
Albertus Magnus will have to contain speedy Lucy Kohlhoff. She can accelerate past defenders and get into scoring position in a flash. Killian Donohue is also a threat.
On the other end, standout defender Meredith Donovan will need to contend with Falcon Kaitlyn McNamara, a midfielder with endless amounts of energy and keen field awareness. Julia McGowan and Carly Clinton are a great combination up top, giving the Falcons versatile threats. Bronxville has a strong defense, with Charley Warble guarding the goal.
Who wins? With what has gone on in Class B this year, who knows? I’ll take Albertus Magnus winning in OT for the upset.
My colleague Adam Berger will be covering this game.
At Somers
Class A
No. 8 Somers vs. No. 2 Pearl River: Somers defeated Pearl River 1-0 in the Class A semifinals last year en route to the Class A championship. This year, they took out Port Chester, No. 1 Saunders, and red-hot Byram Hills to get here. They also have home-field advantage.
But I think Pearl River will win this game.
It has nothing to do with a weakness in Somers. Top to bottom, Somers is an outstanding team, a proven champion that has beaten some of the best teams in the area this year.
My prediction has everything to do with Pearl River. I can’t see them losing. Their defense has been rock solid, shutting out Rye and Eastchester, two of the most skilled and technically proficient offensive teams I have seen this year. Marissa Scognamiglio, Casey Walsh, Amanda DeCourcey and Caitlin Noonan comprise one of the best offensive cores around.
In an incredible year for Class A, these are the two teams left standing. I believe Pearl River will win this game and the title. I will be covering this game.
Class C
No. 2 Tuckahoe vs. No. 1 Haldane: Haldane’s defense has been dominant; at one point this season, they had kept opponents scoreless for nearly 400 minutes. Cali Schweikhart is a fantastic goalkeeper.
Haldane will have its work cut out for them in stopping Tuckahoe’s Alessandra Cirillo. I feel like I typed that she scored a goal in every Tuckahoe game I personally took this year. Tuckahoe earned an impressive victory over Solomon Schechter in the semis.
Haldane shut out over 10 opponents this season, including a Yonkers Montessori Academy team with tremendous speed in the semis. I don’t believe they’ll be shutting out this Tuckahoe team, but I think they have enough offense to get the win. My prediction: Haldane 3-1.
My colleague Brian Heyman will be covering this game.
11 Comments
class A was loaded with talent this season so throw out the seedings and watch the two best teams, somers and pearl river , leave it all on the field in an attempt for a title. congrats to both teams for making it this far.
I still think its wrong that pearl river has to play at somers. North Rockland/clarkstown south winner not playing until tomorrow.
Somers was the designated spot for the championship game this year. Somers and PR made it to the final; hence they will play at Somers. It’s as if the Giants were to make it to the Super Bowl in 2014, they would play in their home stadium. There is nothing wrong with it, it was designated in August. A lot of complaining goes on here about seeding and locations, etc, and the processes behind it. It’s all spelled out in a pre-season booklet given to all coaches at a coaches meeting in August. No surprises, no secret rooms, no Section 1 conspiracies. Coaches fill out their own forms for seeding, Section 1 calculates the numbers than seeds the teams.
i`ll say it again the field does not matter . this is not college football with 60,000 fans. any way, as the reigning champ, maybe somers deserves to have home field. this coming from a long time pearl river guy !!! these postponements really suck !!
Their are two games being played today that are not being played at the designated location that is my point. You are right it doesn’t matter where you play.
The Albertus Magnus match with Hastings was one of ugliest matches ever witnessed.
Magnus defenders pulled, pushed, and pummelled the Hastings offense on their way to a “win”.
It’s one thing to play “physical”, it’s another to leave bodies strewn all over the field.
They didn’t stop with the players – they sassed the refs, moved balls up on free kicks and throw-ins; it was a true display of poor sportsmanship.
The refs caught most of the offenses, but waited until the last 90 seconds to finally yellow card one of many offenders.
It was sad to see a team coached to play with a clear disregard for playing dirty instead of playing well. Just as sad was how the fine play of some of their forwards and mids was spoiled by this ugly win.
Jack Phillips you are a sore loser and an ass. pearl river played albertus twice this year and i seen them as a hard working , well coached team. leave your sour grapes off these posts
Sore loser. Not. Hastings, which managed to best the No. 1 seed in the tourney was a scrappy underdog. You happen to seen this game? Sorry you took offense.
Thanks for elevating your insightful comments to the level of calling me an ass.
I give credit where it’s due: half of Magnus was hard working, the other half were out of control. Theirs was a sad pathetic performance. Truly.
Gee pirate4ever, I haven’t seen either team play, but your adolescent name calling kinda helped make jack phillips’ point. His comments were tough, but he also praised players on the other team. You could of made your point without being dismissive and hostile.
He rightly calls out players who show a lack of respect for their opponents and the game. There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about bullies in our classrooms and not enough talk about bullies on our playing fields. We’ve all seen it – kids who ape pro players hired to take out the opposition.
95 out of 100 of kids finish high school and never step on a competitive ballfield or ballcourt again. High school sports are supposed to be about learning teamwork, building healthy bodies, working hard everyday to become the best you can be… and yes winning.
The saddest part is that these kids are often among the better athletes – they don’t need to push people around to win. Even sadder, the adults who coach them miss a chance to teach them values that last a lifetime.
fairplay , my point to jack is that because your upset your girls lost is no reason to find some lame excuse for them. they lost because they were not as good as albertus, period ! and calling an adult an ass is much less adolescent then a grown man diminishing a whole teams win for the sake of giving his girls a reason for their loss other than they were not as good. that is a big problem in america too. every one does not get a trophy and every one is not a winner. i am not an albertus fan either, i am a fan of soccer and will call out any adult who is trying to lessen a teams accomplishments for the sake of making his daughter feel better . fair play – you just assume that jack`s assessment of the game is correct while not seeing either team play? sure ! you are also a sour grapes parent aren`t you ??? where did that crazy 95 out of 100 stat come from? every kid i know in pearl river plays some sport. I am very involved in anti bullying legislature and agree whole heartedly with your points on bullying , but the albertus game was not the poster child for this forum. soccer is physical that why there are referees . again , my congrats to albertus
Why is the girls blog always a week behind? The boys blog is updated almost hours after the game, the girls blog just doesn’t get the priority to report in the same timeline as the boys. Read title 9 again.