Rams and Lady Rams ride the October rollercoaster that makes the fall soccer season playoff run special
October 9, 2024 at 11:40 p.m.
Lady Rams head soccer coach Danny Alvarado says his team has been on a rollercoaster of late and he isn't talking about Playland.
Instead, he is talking about the ups and downs of the fall season. Especially in the past week or so when shutouts and shout outs went both ways in the won and lost column.
"We played Mount Vernon last Thursday (10/3) at home and won 8-0 and then we came out and lost to Horace Greeley this past Monday (10/7) by a score of 6-0 away."
So go figure. Alvarado is trying to.
The ups and downs
"Once again we are on a rollercoaster of up games when we look as though we have it all together only to follow with losing games when we try hard but just don't have it going for us," he said. "But the team is very hopeful that we are going to finish strong and get into the playoffs."
He paused as though trying to picture how far his team has come.
"We are already better than last year, a down year when we finished 3-13 and didn't make the playoffs," he said. "We are in the last two weeks of the regular season with four games left to play, so we have our hopes up."
Key Lady Rams
He attributes that hope to the fact that he has two key senior players in co-captains Gioiella Pastena and Bridget Morocho who anchor the offense and defense respectively and he has a strong talent base to draw from because 61 girls registered for both the varsity and JV.
Junior goalkeeper Matthew Ceja makes a dramatic save versus Greeley on Monday, Oct. 7 at home. The game ended in a 2-2 draw.By Joseph DeCarlo
That number includes talents like Saidy Hernandez, Gianna Rende, Daniela Lopez and freshman hotshot Valeria Torres whose eighth-grade sister is also contributing.
Not so merry go-round
Rams head soccer coach John Cafaldo knows all too well how that rollercoaster ride towards the playoffs feels because his team has usually come within a goal of beating some of ultra-competitive Section 1's best teams and played others to a tie on a not so merry go-round that has its own kind of ups and downs in a musical chairs kind of season.
Last Tuesday (10/1), for example, they tied a powerhouse Fox Lane 1-1 after trailing 1-0 but still found a way to come back to tie when David Dolores converted a PK (penalty kick) that knotted the score and showed they could hold their own against the best.
On Saturday (10/5) the Rams went on a 4-0 scoring spree against New Rochelle's B team with goals coming from a quartet of high kicking scorers: Bertrand Moreau, Brayan Lapoyeu, Giovanni Arrequin and Ivan Heneo. Dolores and Marcos Barajas chipped in with assists. They completed their impressive trifecta Monday (10/7) against a very good Horace Greeley team when Dolores gave them a 1-0 lead at the half with a goal off an assist from Barajas the only score up until then. But Greeley scored a goal and a penalty kick in the second half to take the lead with Alexander Villa scoring late to tie the game at 2-2 off an assist from Barajas.
Alive and kicking
So both the Rams and Lady Rams are waiting to see what happens as the season dwindles down to a precious few games. The Lady Rams’ upcoming contests include away games against Ramapo Tuesday (10/15) at 4:30 p.m. and Fox Lane Friday (10/18) at 5 p.m. The Rams go up against White Plains Tuesday (10/15) away and Lincoln Thursday (10/17) at Tibbetts Brook Park, both at 4:30 p.m., with a pivotal away game against Fox Lane Saturday (10/19) at 10 a.m. So fasten your seat belts, it should be quite a rollercoaster ride towards the playoffs hopefully with more ups than downs as the not-so-merry go-round goes round and round in the final fall spins towards the playoffs.
But, whatever happens, win or lose, the adrenaline is flowing in a way that makes meaningful October soccer games extra special. And you gotta be in it to win it so the Rams and Lady Rams are staging a strong final kick in the last phases of their playoff run. Making it would provide a happy ending to their rollercoaster ride towards the finish line.
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