Forward tandem leads Lady Falcons

For the second time in three weeks, Valley Stream South’s Christie DeMarco proved too much for Floral Park’s defense to handle in a Nassau Conference VI girls’ soccer game.

DeMarco, a junior who had a hat trick to lead the Lady Falcons to a one-goal victory in the first meeting Sept. 21, opened the scoring a minute into last Thursday’s rematch, set up senior Alexa De La Torre’s two goals, and iced the 5-3 home win with her second goal of the game with eight minutes remaining. 

“Christie and Alexa were our starting forwards last year and I’ve been working diligently with them on being more creative,” VSS coach Dina Viskovich said. “They’ve got good chemistry and got together for some beautiful goals today.”

The prettiest of the goals came late in the first half after Floral Park’s Julia Schmidt scored twice to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. With three minutes left in the first half, DeMarco and De La Torre had a nifty give-and-go that culminated with De La Torre blasting a 15-yard shot over the right shoulder of Lady Knights goalkeeper Trisha Lasapanero to tie it.

Less than a minute into the second half, senior Catherine Powell put South (4-1) ahead for good with a left-footed shot that found its way over the fingertips of a screened Lasapanero and into the top corner. Powell and freshman Breanna Knight, who had a goal waved off minutes later after colliding with Lasapanero, are doing a tremendous job at center-midfield, Viskovich said.

DeMarco’s hustle resulted in a 4-2 lead with 25 minutes remaining. She outraced defenders Natalie Collado and Kelly Bourekas for a loose ball and sent a crossing pass into the box, and De La Torre cashed in. 

But there would be no quit in Floral Park. Schmidt completed her hat trick and cut the margin in half in the 23rd minute, and the Lady Knights came within inches of getting the equalizer with 10 minutes left when a shot from Kayla Buzzeo clanged off the crossbar with no chance for a rebound.

“I’ve been very pleased with the results,” Viskovich said. “It was challenging to figure out everyone’s position. We lost a lot of starters from last year, but the girls have shown amazing work ethic.”

The defense lost a key contributor when Madeline Herlihy went down for the year with a knee injury, but junior Paris Matteo has thrived with a move to sweeper and solidified the group in front of senior goalkeeper Andrea Brea, who has been solid. Juniors Nuha Hamarsha, Elizabeth Aquirre and Jessica Liberato played strong defense against Floral Park to make up for the absence of reliable senior Allison Dash.

“I don’t see any reason why we can’t win the conference if we continue to play at this level,” Viskovich said.

Glen Cove visits on Friday at 4:30 p.m.