Xtreme Quiets The Rage, Get Shut Down By The Power

Kelsey Whitney and Alicia Mueller get ready to possess the ball.

On Saturday, September 29th, the Xtreme hosted their neighboring rival, the RVC Rage. It was a beautiful fall morning at St. Pauls. Even better was the fact that the Xtreme were too fast for the Rage. They got forward quickly for the entire match and scored three goals to win, 3-1.

For the first five minutes of the match, the play was wide open and both teams had some scoring chances. Sam Derby was in the goal for the Extreme. Sam made some nice saves and the defense, under pressure at times kept the Rage from scoring. Alicia Mueller, Deanna DiPierro, Sam Miesemer and Jenna Codignotto did an excellent job of marking all the attacking RVC players. Even though the Rage got possession in the Xtreme penalty area, the tight marking prevented many quality shots on goal. Cara Adams at the eight-minute mark got her team the lead. Lauren Miesemer carrying down the left side, saw Cara making a run to the far post. Lauren sent a perfect cross to Cara, who put a touch on the ball and blasted it past the keeper. As the half progressed, the Xtreme started to take control. Constantly winning unprocessed balls in the middle third, Katie Roscoe, Colette Seel and Cara, kept the Rage from going on the attack. Lauren, along with Isabel McKeown and Joanna Sokolovic, repeatedly played their attacking halfbacks in on goal. The pressure got the Xtreme their second goal. Isabel and Joanna got the ball into the Rage 18 yard box with excellent combination passing. Quickly, Isabel found Colette open on the left side of the box. Colette, with a tough angle, scored on a perfectly placed shot.

Lauren Miesemer about to go by the defender.

Up 2-0 at half, Xtreme knew good defense would lead to victory. Shannon Yierney, Kelsey Whitney and Alison Holfester were in at halfback. They were quick to the ball and kept the Xtreme in control by constantly winning possession. The Xtreme sealed the match at the 18 minute mark in the second half. Again, the attacking players got the numbers advantage on the Rage by beating them up the field. Joanna was played in the penalty area by Alison. Joanna sent a cross over to a sprinting Colettte. Colette made a move and scored her second goal. With eight minutes remaining, RVC got their only goal when a corner kick hit off of an Xtreme player and bounced into the goal.

Sam Miesemer fights to win possession.

On Sunday, September 30th, the Xtreme had their second State Cup match. Again they were the home team, hosting the Bay Shore Power. The match was even for the first ten minutes, but the Power scored first when a perfectly lofted ball went into the goal. About 6 minutes later, more bad luck, when a cross hit an Xtreme player and ricocheted into the goal. Down 2-0 after the first half, the Xtreme knew they had their work cut out for them. The Xtreme have come from behind twice this season, but on this day the Power were just too physical of a team and didn't allow the Xtreme to sustain much momentum. With 10 minutes left, the Bay Shore team secured their victory with a final goal.

Over the Columbus Day Weekend, the Xtreme and about 23 other Garden City teams are off to a soccer tournament in Windsor, Connecticut. The players are looking forward to lots of fun and excellent soccer.

Cara Adams receives the ball.

Shannon Tierney races to win the ball. Alison Holfester carries up the field. Sam Derby gets ready to clear.