Late goal lifts West Hempstead

After scoring her 19th goal of the season in the first half, junior Olivia Czavar set up senior Ashley Merrill’s goal with 12:30 remaining in the second to lift West Hempstead to a 2-1 victory over Lynbrook in a Nassau Conference VI girls’ soccer game last Saturday.

Merrill was the fourth West Hempstead player to touch the ball on a nifty passing sequence that began deep in its own zone. Taryn Squiciarino started it all, sending a pass to fellow freshman Nina Boria, who relayed it to Czavar in the middle. With a few Lynbrook players converging, Czavar sent a through ball that Merrill cashed in for her fifth goal of the season. Senior goalkeeper Kim Velazquez (seven saves) made the score hold up with a diving save a few minutes later.

“They just found each other,” West Hempstead coach Mike Scaturro said of the four consecutive passes that led to the winning goal. “We started pressing with a third forward with about 20 minutes left. We got a lot of scoring chances and probably should’ve put more than one in the net, but one was enough.”

Freshman Taylor Freiermuth also contributed to the offense, assisting on Czavar’s goal. Meghan Montine scored for the Lady Owls, who got 10 saves from goalie Corrine Zee. 

It was the second straight victory for the Lady Rams (7-2-2 in conference games, 8-3-2 overall), who will look to close the regular season on a high note against Valley Stream South and host a Nassau Class A playoff game.

“We’re in the playoffs,” said Scaturro, “it’s just a matter of where we’ll be seeded. It’s up in the air. We could be as high as third and as low as 14.”

After winning just three games in 2009, West Hempstead has already met the majority of the goals it set during the opening week of practice. The first goal, Scaturro said, was to top last year’s win total. The second was to qualify for the playoffs, and the third was to take the conference title. The latter will go to either Floral Park or Valley Stream South.

The Lady Rams lost a key showdown with Floral Park on Oct. 19, 3-1, as their inability to finish around the cage combined with some defensive breakdowns led to the setback. Czavar scored their lone goal and came back two days later to net a career-high four goals in a 7-2 triumph at Great Neck North.

“Olivia has a knack for getting to the goal,” Scaturro said. “It’s her fourth year playing varsity and she knows what to expect. She’s very good one-on-one and still does a lot of good things when she’s marked up.”

Senior Katie Kurs tops the team in assists with seven, while senior fullback Hayley Bifulco and junior sweeper/stopper Erin Guerrero are leading the defense in front of Velazquez (five shutouts), who recently signed with Adelphi.