Winning season for West Hempstead

After winning a conference title in 2013, West Hempstead girls’ soccer coach Mike Scaturro knew his team would have to go through some growing pains this season. Eight starters graduated, and the Rams would have one of the county’s youngest teams.

Despite a slow start to the season, the Rams found themselves and finished up with a very respectable 6-5-4 record. The season ended on a high note with a dramatic 3-2 victory over visiting Friends Academy. 

Sophomore Carly Sills scored with 11 seconds remaining in the match to cap off the come-from-behind victory. The Rams, who lost just once over their last six matches, had trailed 2-0. It was Sills first goal of the season. Lisa Waterhouse and Lisette Poloma each found the back of the net for West Hempstead.  

Scaturro was happy with the strides his team took after the rough start. “It took us a little while to get going,” Scaturro said. “We were very young, so I didn’t expect a lot of wins. We lost most of our starters from a year ago, so we had a lot of players with no varsity experience. Once we figured things out, we played pretty well with what we had. It was a good turnaround.”

The turnaround began with a bunch of position changes. One of the moves that paid dividends was switching Poloma from center midfield to forward, a move that was made to put the sophomore in position to get more scoring opportunities. 

Poloma, who earned All-County recognition, led the team with 10 goals and eight assists. The three-year starter scored both goals in West Hempstead’s 2-2 tie with Jericho. 

Waterhouse had a solid year at forward for the Rams, scoring eight goals and picking up four assists. She scored West Hempstead’s lone goal as the Rams played to a 1-1 tie with a Lynbrook team that went undefeated in league play. Waterhouse was named an All-Classification honoree. Stopper Ellen Murphy, one of the three seniors on the roster, also picked up All-Classification honors.

Despite being extremely young at midfield, the Rams had a solid duo that played very well. Freshman Taylor D’Alessandro, an All-Conference recipient, and eighth-grader Sabrina Rodrigues should be an excellent tandem for the next three years. Sophomore sweeper Natalia Roberts also earned All-Conference honors.

Scaturro had no idea who would play keeper in 2014, but he found a good one in Lydia Almedia. The freshman goalie registered three shutouts, and kept the Rams in games with her strong play. She had 11 saves in the tie with Lynbrook. 

With 14 underclassmen returning, Scaturro is optimistic about the future.  “The young girls got a year a varsity experience under their belts, and they should be better next season,” Scaturro said. “Injuries were tough on us late in the year, and I had to move some people around. We need to stay healthy, get a little more experience, and score more goals.”