Eldred Varsity Girls Win Sections

As the sun hit the horizon at Faller Field, Middletown, NY; the Varsity girl's soccer team for Eldred had been crowned the Section 9 Class D champions. Last year: almost the same exact group of girls had done the unimaginable; they earned a place up in the New York State championship. This year when playing they showed a fierce hunger to win the title again, and hopefully make it as far as they did last year. 

I am the striker for Eldred's team, and I have attended almost every practice these 3 months of playing soccer. I have seen my team develop a bond of trust and learn to fully understand each other on and off the field. When the bus pulled up to the field already seeing the Manor girls on the field, I along with everyone else on my team knew, Manor was going to bring their all. 

Earlier this season, our coach, J.J. Gass, drilled it into our minds to set small goals for our team. First win all of the four league games we had on our schedule against the other Class D schools, Chapel Field and Manor. Which we did, but this season all the excitement came from playing against the bigger schools and winning. We had played against Monticello (Class A), Liberty (Class B), Port Jervis (Class B) and won. When it was all said and done, we finished with a record of 13-2-1! This was a huge accomplishment and our team was ready to move onto our next goal, which was win sections.  

As we stepped out to the beautiful turf field of Middletown, it was a good feeling to be back. The freshmen that were not on the team last year stood in awe. The game was about to start, so we ran our lap and stretched; our usual preparation before a game. Our stomachs were turning when the refs blew the whistle for the game to start.

The starters for Eldred went to their usual positions; Jenna Burns in the goal, her steady defense set up like a diamond infront of her with Alaina Gaughan, Erin Clarkin, Savannah Finck, and Addy Bodnaruik. Sheila Burns, Kassandra Weatherly, and Alyssa McGrail were the fast, controllers of the midfield. Jordan Lepes, Melissa McMonagle, and I had the offensive attackers upfront.

When Jordan Lepes headed the ball in off the corner kick I took, that was the first goal of the game in the first half. The battle remained between both the teams, all through the last minutes of the first half and the beginning of the second. When Sheila Burns the center midfielder, made the second goal, it was over for the Manor team. Eldred girls became ecstatic and were determined to hold their two point lead.

The final four blows of the game, was the best feeling imaginable. The players on the bench rushed out to the field; 20 girls (the names not mentioned before: Cat Nicholson, Tabby Banghart, Sammi Clemons, Lauren Frey, Gemma MacFee, Francine McDonnell, Molly Clarkin, Julia Foster, and Ally Rumsey), were jumping and screaming with joy because of their accomplishment.
Coach Gass smiled and told his team was on to their next goal to win Regionals. November 8th in Albany my team and I will have to prove ourselves to New York State again and try to qualify for States again.