Lady Rams soccer team kicks off season with loss
August 30, 2023 at 11:54 p.m.
Shortly before the end of one of the Lady Rams final pre-season practices for the new fall season at the high school, head coach Danny Alvarado was finding comfort in numbers contrasting the upcoming season with last year's.
"We didn't have the numbers last year—it got so bad that we had to fold our junior varsity before the season ended and bring up players to help our varsity because we were hurting with so many injuries," Alvarado said. "This year is going to be different. We have 46 players out for the team."
Why the difference? he was asked.
Lingering COVID fears
"I think it had a lot to do with COVID," he said. "I'm Latino so I can say this. There's a lot of family love involved. And I think the Latino parents were trying to protect their daughters from potential exposure to the coronavirus. So they kept them close to home. And that led to a drop in tryouts, not only with the Lady Rams but with the travel teams as well. It led to a drop-off in the level of play. Now things are different."
Different enough so that the Lady Rams have enough players to stock a varsity as well as a junior varsity team.
And that leaves Alvarado doing double duty.
Because he is waiting for the Board of Education to approve a JV coach.
Dual coaching gig
Until that happens, Alvarado, a former All League Coach of the Year, is shuttling around coaching both teams.
So at practice Monday (8/28) shortly before noon, Alvarado was putting the JV through their paces, dodging in and out of cones on the high school pitch, practicing passing with precise balletic kicks while the varsity sat in the grandstand waiting their turn on the field.
It was not ideal. . And that lack of varsity practice time due to the split practices may have been a factor in the Lady Rams losing their fall season opener Tuesday (8/29) 6-0 away against Harrison—the first Port Chester team to play during the start of the new fall season with most of the other PC teams starting the season either this weekend or next week.
Playing with full deck
But Alvarado wasn't using the split practices as an excuse. Because he is glad to be playing with a full deck this season.
Last year, he had two major varsity players—All-League player co-captains Ariana da Silva and Yelanni Diaz—playing hurt all season because he needed them to lead a relatively inexperienced young team.
This year figures to be a different story because he has a vastly more experienced team starting with his four co-captains: seniors Sophia Maldonado, Samantha (Sam) Munoz, Valeria Novoa and junior Gioiella Pastena.
The rest of the varsity roster reflects that experience because it includes seniors Toby Sanchez, Evelyn Aguilar, Ashley Cortes, Yareli Cruz, Deisy Herrera, and Ariana Lionos. The juniors are Daisy Aguilar, Tamara Correia, Lucelly Espinosa, Kimberly Flores, Bianca Garcia, Saidy Hernandez, Alison and Daniela Lopez, Bridget Morocho and Leslie Reyes. The sophomore contingent is headed by Britney LaRosa and Ashley Ramirez.
Skateboarding flip flop
The promising freshmen include Kelly Mendoza and Gianna Rende, although Gianna won't be available for a few more weeks because of a skateboarding accident that hasn't stopped her from coming to practice. And Mariana Torres is that rarest of eighth graders talented enough to make the varsity.
Alvarado will try to mold that talent into a winning team that has upcoming games against East Ramapo, Brewster and Suffern, all at home, on Thursday (8/31) at 4:30 p.m., Saturday (9/2) at 9:30 a.m. and Suffern next Tuesday (9/12) at 4:30 p.m. Hopefully the home cooking will help the team get off on the right foot after that opening loss to Harrison.
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