An evening rainbow portends victory for Sullivan West girls’ soccer

By TED WADDELL
Posted 10/16/19

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — There’s an old seafaring adage that goes, “Red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.”While this proverb has …

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An evening rainbow portends victory for Sullivan West girls’ soccer

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LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — There’s an old seafaring adage that goes, “Red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.”

While this proverb has ancient roots in seafaring lore, Biblical scholars attribute it to Jesus’s (Matthew 16:2-3) saying, “When it is evening, ye say, fair weather; for the heaven is red, and in the morning, foul weather today for the heaven is red and lowering.”

In a sporting sense, this was a harbinger of what was to unfold in the Sullivan West versus Tri-Valley girls’ game of varsity soccer on Wednesday, October 9, during the Lady Bulldogs 2019 senior recognition night. Before the match, a glorious rainbow stretched across the near horizon from one end of the field of play to the other.

In a traditional rite of passage, Sullivan West’s four senior booters presented flowers to their parents at a brief mid-field ceremony: #4 Arieon Frazier, #6 Maggie Russell, #21 Morgan Kraack and #23 Brooke Kloss.
At the close of the first frame, it seemed like the fateful omen was hard at work for the home team, as they had posted a 3-1 lead at the half.

Grace Boyd scored off an assist by Carli Muzuruk less than a minute-and-a-half into the match at 38:73, followed at 31:68 with a goal by Arieron Frazier assisted by Sofia Seidl.

As the battle for possession raged across the field, there was a brief lull in the scoring, until Sullivan West’s Frazier scored at 10:98 off an assist by Boyd.

With five minutes remaining on the half-time clock, Tri-Valley’s Juliana Kessler scored at 5:00 off an assist from Samantha Houghtaling to make a 3-1 contest.

The home team scored the first goal in the final frame, as Boyd beat drilled one into the net off an assist by Frazer at 22:87.

Later in the second half, the Lady Bears began to get their feet under them and staged a brief rally, adding another point to their tally thanks to Jordan Carmody at 15:78 off an assist by Samantha Houghtaling.

At the end the hard-fought match, the Lady Bulldogs (2-7-2) managed to hold on to a 4-2 victory despite the spirited play of the Lady Bears (1-7-1).

Throughout the match, Sullivan West’s keeper Riley Ernst kept up a relentless vocal generalship of her squad, repeatedly yelling at them across the field to ‘push up, push up !!!!”

A brief review of the stats: shots (SW 23, TV 17), shots on goal (SW 17, TV 13), corner kicks (SW 2, TV 3).

And from the goalies’ side of the field: two keeper saves by Sullivan West’s Riley Ernst, and four keeper saves by Tri-Valley’s Heather Winters.

Mary Feusner, Tri-Valley’s “Legends of Section IX” coach, now in her 39th year at the helm, said of the season, “It’s been a little frustrating… We graduated eight kids, and it’s been hard getting those positions filled… It’s been a little tough.”

The Lady Bears of 2019 are captained by a trio of seniors (Jordan Carmody, Samantha Houghtaling and Victoria Swett), who are joined on the squad by fellow 12th graders Reagan Allison, Lexie Kloss, Reanna McGregor and Heather Winters, along with 10 juniors and a lone eighth grader.

“Our numbers are down,” said Feusner. “We don’t have enough players playing 100 percent of the time, but we’re getting there… This was the best outing we’ve had so far.”

Diana Hahn is fairly new to coaching girls’ varsity level soccer, but she was right on target when asked her take on the match.

“They came out with some energy and spirit, and the spirit of homecoming helped them connect a little bit too.”

Sullivan West, Tri Valley, girls' soccer

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