Boys modified soccer

The boys’ modified soccer team played only one game this week and that was a home game against Johnsburg last Thursday, Oct. 13.  

The visiting Johnsburg team only brought nine players with them and that did not seem to inspire our local team. They played with little energy, but, with a halftime talk by their coach, Greg Clark, they came out and played better in the second half.  The final score was 4-0 with the local team picking up another victory to add to their fine record.  

Tyler Fenton and Nikolai Orekhov each scored two goals to lead the offense with assists going to Fenton, Orekhov and Connor Ulrich.  The defense seemed to have little trouble keeping Johnsburg from scoring.

Boys junior varsity soccer

The boys’ junior varsity soccer team had a busy week as they approach the end of their season.  

Monday, Oct. 10, they finally got their home game in against Herkimer. This game was dominated by Old Forge as they outshot Herkimer 38-6, had an 8-1 advantage on corner kicks and made the Herkimer goalie make 18 saves while Will Johnson only had to make four comfortable saves for Old Forge. Dane Daiker got the offense started with a first half goal and Tyler McGough got the second goal early in the second half to produce all the offense that the team needed in recording a 2-0 victory. With all of the shots that the team had they should have scored more goals, but sometimes that is the way of soccer.  

Wednesday, Oct. 12, they made their second trip to Hamilton with hopes of finally getting the game played.  Thunder and lightning  ruled out their first encounter.  

Old Forge started fast and built up a 2-0 lead in the first half before giving up one to Hamilton just before the half ended. The team then had to hang on as Hamilton started getting by the defense and placed great pressure on them. Hamilton did get the tying goal and forced overtime with neither team scoring. It was the second time that these two teams ended in a tie.  

Daiker and Hunter Lawrence scored goals for the Eskimos with goalie Johnson saving the day for the defense in the second half with some outstanding saves. Johnson took charge as his defense started to collapse and it certainly was an opportune time for him to be more aggressive in the goal.  

Thursday, Oct. 13, the team played host to a very strong ODY team and lost the game 8-1 in a total mismatch. In the two games played against ODY, ODY outscored our team by a total of 14-2.  

As I reported the first time they played, ODY has no varsity team and that meant that upperclassmen were used on the team. That certainly helps, but after I saw this game played, it was not the upperclassmen that made the difference, it was the ninth graders on the team. ODY had four juniors playing but half of their team was made up of ninth graders. All eight goals scored by ODY were scored by five ninth graders who were just too quick and talented for our team. One must say that Old Forge was playing with many injuries and the defense was shy a couple of starters, but ODY still had the best group of freshmen playing that I have seen there in years. They are quick, pass well and relentless. They never give up.

Old Forge was limited to just one goal, a late goal on a direct kick by Daiker.  

Boys varsity soccer

The boys’ varsity soccer team played only one game this week and that was a non-league game at Johnsburg last Thursday, Oct. 13.  

As they did in the consolation game of the tournament, the team had little trouble as they romped to a 6-1 victory. Kevin Kress had two goals, Connor Rockhill had a goal and two assists, and Trevor Godemann, Colin Criss and Austin Down each had one goal. Sam Waterbury had one assist and goalie, Trevor Rice, made four saves in goal.  

The win improves their overall record to 8-5-1 with one game left to be played before they enter the sectional playoffs. That game will be played today, Oct. 18, against state-ranked Hamilton. The game will be played on the North Street Field starting at 4:30 p.m. The outcome could mean the difference in playing the first game at home or away.

Cross country

The cross country running teams took part in a meet hosted by Herkimer at Herkimer Community College last Wednesday, Oct. 12. Sherburne-Earlville was the other participant in a meet that had no baring on the Division III standings as neither Herkimer or Sherburne-Earlville are in that division.  

Due to soccer conflicts, the boys varsity team had only one runner and that was Lance Frymire who cracked the top ten by placing seventh overall.  

In the girls varsity race, the team was missing their top runner, Maddie Phaneuf, who is nursing a nagging injury. None of the teams had enough girls to compete as a full team, but, when that happens, the league by-laws say you can fall back to counting your top three or four instead of the usual five making the team score. The teams agreed to top three only.  

Caitlin Bailey had a great race as she took first place overall by a full minute and 38 seconds over second place. Andrea Frey placed seventh and Jessica Hannah placed eighth. With some problems in the scoring, it appears to me that Herkimer defeated Old Forge 9-12 and Old Forge defeated Sherburne-Earlville, 10-11. The girls’ team could be a strong team if and when they get their whole team together. They have the CSC League Championships coming up this Saturday, Oct. 22 at Herkimer starting at 2 p.m.  There are no soccer games that day and they should be at full strength.

In the girls’ modified race, Lauren Beckingham placed third and Robin Smith placed fifth. The other girls on the team were at a soccer game.  

In the boys’ modified race, West Lamphear lost to an outstanding runner from Herkimer and placed second overall. Lamphear was followed by his teammates Zach McGough and Jake Prichard.

Girls modified soccer

The girls’ modified soccer team traveled to Boonville last Wednesday, Oct. 12, to take on Adirondack in search of their sixth straight victory. Led by two goals from Melissa Rockhill, the team did just that with a convincing 3-0 victory to remain undefeated.  Holly Kalil scored the other goal.  

Madison Rice, once again, had an outstanding game in goal and made some key tough saves to keep her team in the game. The team also received some fine defensive play from Chloe Brosemer and Maggie Queen.

But, alas, as some pessimistic person once said, “All good things must come to an end,” and it did at Poland Thursday, Oct. 13. Poland eked out a 1-0 victory to snap the young Eskimos winning streak at six. The team played hard, but, maybe two straight away games was too much to overcome. Hopefully, they will recover and start another streak.  

Girls junior varsity soccer

The girls junior varsity soccer team played only one game this week and that was a game played Friday, Oct. 14, at Holland Patent. Holland Patent defeated Old Forge earlier in the season and I remember saying that they were the best team I had seen play against our girls to that point.  

Old Forge played very well, maybe their best ball of the season, before Holland Patent scored the only goal of the game late in the second half. It was a tough loss after playing so hard, but, the girls had to know that they played a very good game. I have always said that I would rather see my team play well and lose than to play poorly and beat some poor team.  

The team will finish their season this week.

Girls varsity soccer

The girls varsity soccer team played three league games this past week as they near the end of their season.  

Tuesday, Oct. 11, the team went to Rome to take on a team that they opened the season with at home. Old Forge won that game 9-0 and hopes were that they forgot that and approached the game with a sense of purpose. That they did as they gained only their second victory of the year, this time a 4-0 win.  

Andrea Frey had her best offensive outing of the year with two goals and one assist.  Daria Orekhov and Lauren Holt each had one goal with Maddie Phaneuf garnering one assist. Jessica Menges had six saves in the goal to record her second shutout against Rome Catholic.  

Thursday, Oct. 13, they traveled to Poland and suffered a 7-2 loss in a game in which they did not play well. Not much could be reported on this game that was positive.  Orekhov and Katie Connell each scored a goal for Old Forge.

Back home to play Oriskany on Saturday, Oct. 15, the team felt they had a realistic chance of beating this team, a team that defeated them 4-1 earlier in the season.  Orekhov, off a pass from Mallory Kleps, opened the scoring early in the first half with a well placed shot to give her team a 1-0 lead. However, Oriskany scored the next three goals—all on mistakes by Old Forge—to take command of the game. Old Forge did not give up as later in the second half, Maddie Phaneuf took a pass from Connell and with some nice individual moves got free for a goal that got them back into the ball game.  They had some scoring chances in the last 10 minutes of play but they could not get another goal in losing 3-2.  

The team played hard all game which was played under very damp and cold conditions.  The defense, led by Jessica Hannah, did its job, but, as it has been all year, it was not meant to be.  They came close in many games as evidenced by their recent three straight tie ball games, however, they never seemed to get the big play needed to win the game.  

The team closed their season with a home game against Westmoreland on Monday, Oct. 17, with the report on the game in next week’s edition of the Express.