Sports
York Soccer Roundup
By Uwe Seeler
YHS Girls continue strong in back
Sophomore Michaela Schilling takes charge at the stopper position in last Monday's 4-0 scrimmage victory over Marshwood at York.
Photo by Lev Yashin
YORK - The York girls team continued their pre-season with strong play out of the back and signs of growing effectiveness in the offensive half of the field.
Last Wednesday, Aug. 23, at York saw the hosts hold a talented Exeter team to a 1-1 draw, while on Monday, also at York, the Wildcats dominated visiting Marshwood 4-0.
Against Exeter, the Wildcats went down early when a failure to pick up a loose ball just outside the top of the box led to a strong shot over a leaping Brooke Simpson to put Exeter up 1-0. York then settled down on defense and kept Exeter away for the rest of the game.
Sophomore Chelsea Tewell tied things up for York on a beautiful, long, looping shot from wide left over the Exeter keeper and into the net just inside the far post to leave it at 1-1 just before the half. Defensive play dominated the second half on both sides and the score ended at 1-1 for the day.
On Monday, York cruised past visiting Marshwood 4-0, putting offensive pressure on from the outset.
Sophomore midfielder Emily Boone made it 1-0 on a hard drive from close in on the right side of the box as she ran onto a nice cross from freshman Emma Clark.
York followed with an opportunistic goal by Tewell who followed up on a cross by Morgan Taylor that the Marshwood keeper couldn't hold. Tewell scored a second goal to make it 3-0 when the Marshwood keeper let a ball go into the net uncontested, apparently believing the ball had already gone out over the touchline.
York finished with a third goal for Tewell off a nice buildup, the play starting with a 40-yard pass from center back Kate Rasche to Tewell, who then worked a give and go with center-mid Stephanie Plaisted, with Tewell finishing off with authority. This was a comprehensive win for York, and keeper Kelsey Cruz was never seriously tested.
Coach Wally Caldwell said of his squad so far that he was "pretty happy" and that the team had come further than he had expected at this early stage of the season. Caldwell said the younger players had filled in well, and that their performance would be the key to the season. Caldwell noted that his midfield was showing as strong as it had in the past seasons, even with the loss of a talented senior dominated midfield from last year.
Caldwell thought his team still had some fitness issues, and noted that would be an issue as this year's team was not as deep as in prior years.
Caldwell will start the season using the familiar 4-4-2 with Rasche and Clark as the sweeper-stopper combination, and returning starter Brooke Simpson in goal. He expects that this year's team will see more use of long ball passes out of the midfield due to the existence of so many back and midfield players capable of making 30- and 40-yard passes with accuracy. Caldwell said that in Clark, Meredith Reid, Kiah Voyer-Colbath, Plaisted and Rasche, York had five players that were all able to serve quality long balls to the speed players up top.
The Wildcats open their regular season with a Saturday night, Sept. 2, game this weekend at Division 1 powerhouse Greely.
"It will be a true test and we need to show we can be competitive," Caldwell said. "The pressure will be different from pre-season, and things will need to go to another level."
Deep YHS Boys team impressive
York senior Pat Cartier muscles his way past a Marshwood defender in last Monday's scrimmage at Marshwood. York dominated 3-0.
Photo by Kate Rasche
YORK - The York Boys Soccer team showed its depth over the past week as an injury-depleted squad continued to play strong in the pre-season, demolishing visiting Spaulding High of Rochester, N.H., last Tuesday, Aug. 22, 6-1, and controlling play at Marshwood this past Monday, Aug. 28, for a 3-0 win.
In between, the Wildcats traveled to Gorham last Thursday, Aug. 24, where they went out to a 2-0 lead before allowing the hosts to equalize for a 2-2 draw.
Against Spaulding, the Wildcats left three starters in street clothes due to injury. No matter in this match as York dominated from start to finish.
A questionable call for pushing in the box during the first minutes of play allowed for a confident strike by Greg Wilson on the penalty kick to put York up 1-0. Jason Durkin scored to make it 2-0 on a nice feed, getting sent in clean from 20 yards out and shielding off the closing defender to slot home low past the diving keeper. Spaulding closed the gap to 2-1 on a penalty kick off another iffy call in the box, this one against York's Matt Carey for an elbow.
From there on it was all York, with Joe Corsello responding with a cheeky back heel past a totally befuddled Spaulding keeper to make it 3-1, followed up by a long distance laser from Matt Prewitt just outside the box to go up 4-1.
In the second half, Ryan Clausen put one in on a deflection off the Spaulding keeper, and Dan Powers finished matters at 5-1, muscling his way through the box for a nice touch goal past the sprawling keeper.
At last Thursday's scrimmage in Gorham, York went up 2-0 on goals by Alex Ciccolini-Foley and Clausen, only to let the hosts equalize off an own goal and a corner in the second half.
On Monday at Marshwood, York was again on the board first with Ben Forrest scoring with the one-time shot in low off a nice run from Ciccolini-Foley and two quick passes inside the box from Phil Alibrandi and Corsello.
York went up 2-0 early in the second half when sophomore Sam Rasche scored the easy tap in at the far post off a nice pass across the goal mouth from the hard-working Ciccolini-Foley. Durkin finished the scoring with a break in clean from 25 yards and a solid strike high to the keeper's left.
Afterward, Coach Jeff Smith said he was impressed with his team's play over the past week and was pleased with the work of the younger players who stepped up while several starters were off with injuries.
Chief among those injuries was a concussion to center back Carey suffered in the Gorham game. Smith expects Carey to be recovered in time for the season opener on Friday.
Smith said he will stay with the 4-4-2 sweeper-stopper formation to start the season. Smith noted the depth and versatility of his squad as a big plus coming into the regular season. He fully expects his team to be among the top three or four teams in Western Maine, and hopes the Wildcats will continue to show the proper work ethic to get the job done this year.
The Wildcats open the season at home this Friday, Sept. 1, at 6 p.m. against Gray-New Gloucester.
