Lady Rams young and talented

A pair of freshmen helped West Hempstead to a 2-0 victory over Jericho in the Nassau Conference AB-III girls’ soccer opener for both teams, with goalkeeper Sydney Reitz recording a four-save shutout and Sabrina Rodrigues scoring her first varsity goal.

The Lady Rams, who fell short of the Nassau Class A playoffs last season by one point, are looking to qualify for the seventh time in coach Mike Scaturro’s nine years at the helm. They’re off to a 1-2 start in the conference, which includes Bethpage, Wheatley, Clarke and Roslyn. 

“Last year we were super young and missed the playoffs on the last day of the regular season,” he said. “It’s basically the same crew, but we’re still only starting two seniors. We’re still dealing with some young mistakes, but hopefully we’ll keep becoming more and more consistent as the year goes on.”

Reitz and Lydia Almeida give Scaturro two solid options in the cage. Almeida contributes at sweeper when Reitz gets the nod. “Lydia can get to the high shots and is a vocal leader,” he said. “Sydney is very athletic and has two shutouts already. It’s a positive situation.”

When Almeida is in goal, versatile junior Natalia Roberts is usually at sweeper and junior Carly Sills works at stopper. Roberts is back following a knee injury last season and also contributes at outside back and forward. She had a goal and two assists through seven games. Sills has picked up where she left off late last fall when she cracked the starting lineup. “She’s fast, tough and athletic,” Scaturro said.

At outside back, senior Stephanie Carcamo is a reliable returning starter and had a strong game in last Saturday’s 2-1 setback to Wheatley. Junior outside back Sophia Caldwell, up from JV, is tough to knock off the ball.