Rams soccer in, Lady Rams soccer out of playoffs
October 18, 2023 at 9:43 p.m.
The big round ball has taken its final regular season bounces in Rams and Lady Rams soccer, with the Rams in the upcoming playoffs while their female counterparts are out. But the ball is still up in the air in volleyball where the Lady Rams have had a rough October with three games left to go but still look like a sure thing to make the post-season playoffs with a winning record.
Rams close fast
True to form, veteran head soccer coach John Cafaldo's well-conditioned Rams closed fast, beating two of the area's best teams in Ossining and White Plains by a goal and losing close to Eastchester, one of Westchester's top-ranked teams, by a deuce.
That means the Rams should be in the thick of things going into the playoffs with none of the top seeds anxious to play Port Chester because the games could go either way.
In the 3-2 win over Ossining, Ramaul Morgan scored twice and Daniel Cruz once with Bayron Aguirre and Julian Lopez racking up the assists.
In the 2-1 win against White Plains, Christian Antunez scored a goal off an assist from Morgan and Nicholas Tellez scored the game-winner on a free kick with just over a minute left to play in the game.
And then the Rams lost 3-1 in the regular season finale against Eastchester in which Cruz scored Port Chester's only goal off an assist by Tellez in a contest where Cafaldo said his team "played a good game under tough conditions."
Tough playoff draw
That resulted in a tough seed in the playoffs for Port Chester because the Rams’ opening home game in the post-season will be against White Plains Friday (10/20) at 4:15 p.m. It should be a doozy of a must-see because the Rams beat White Plains close twice during the regular season and the rivals will be going at it like there's no tomorrow because there is no tomorrow for the losing team in the one-and-done playoffs.
Lady Rams head soccer coach Danny Alvarado doesn't have to worry about that because his team closed out the season with shutout losses to White Plains and Greeley to bring down the curtain on a rare losing season. That isn't the way the seniors—Deisy Herrera, Sophia Maldonado, Samantha (Sam) Munoz, Toby Sanchez, Yareli Cruz, Ariana Llanos and Valeria Novoa—wanted their Lady Rams soccer careers to end, but sometimes that's the way the ball bounces.
Unforgiving October
The Lady Rams Vballers have run into an unforgiving October after getting off to a fast start to their regular season as Port Chester's surprisingly winningest team. But then came shutout losses to Greeley, Ossining and White Plains during an October stretch that included a shutout win over Lincoln. But even in losing, first year head coach Stephanie Costabile's managed to look good.
Against Greeley, for example, the VBallers dropped the match by the identical scores of 25-15 with the final a closer 25-18 and strong play coming from eighth grade wunderkind Julianna Luzzi (16 assists), sophomore Skylar Sams (13 digs) and junior Nataly Suertegaray (nine kills). They beat Lincoln 3-0 with Luzzi recording 19 assists, Suertegaray coming up with 22 kills and Camila Nunez notching two aces and six digs. They made it close against Ossining, losing by scores of 25-17, 25-20 and 24-26 with the local standouts including Luzzi (18 assists), Suertegaray (16 digs and 14 kills) and Sams (27 digs). And in the most recent shutout loss, the same three players stood out with 14 assists, 13 kills and 13 digs respectively.
Odds look good
That all led up to the Vballers going into this week's final season-ending games with a 9-8 record with upcoming matches against Greeley away Wednesday (after press time), followed by a home-and-away series against Roosevelt Thursday (10/19) at 5 p.m. and Saturday (10/21) at 10 a.m.
Whether they win or lose, their record should still be good enough to make the playoffs although their final record will impact the seedings.
No matter what happens, the Lady Rams are a young, ever-improving team playing a solid game every time out under Costabile, a proven winner as a high school and college player and a travel team coach herself on a national and regional level, so Port Chester figures to be even better next year. And there's no telling what may yet happen in the playoffs.
Junior Nataly Suertegaray bumps the ball over the net during the Port Chester home volleyball game against Fox Lane on Monday, Oct. 16. The Foxes defeated the Rams 3-0.By Chloe Trieff
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