Lady Rams Drop Regular Season Finale

The Clarke girls soccer team came on the field for their last regular season game with a mission. With one game left, the Rams had a chance to put a dent in the season of the conference leading Seaford HS girls soccer team.

Seaford stepped out onto their home field with a mission too -- to win their last regular season game after a disappointing loss the previous night and demonstrate that their regular season title was earned.

In a hard fought and dramatic night game under bright lights and a barreling mist, the Lady Vikings (9-3) prevailed 2-0 on their home turf, but not before a few nail biting moments for the Seaford faithful, and tantalizing hopes of snatching victory from them by the Lady Rams (6-2-3).

"This is a team we tied first time around," said Clarke coach Becky Wachsberger afterwards. ""We played them hard and we had some good opportunities."

Lady Viking coach Suzanne Mooney gave credit to the Clarke team for giving her 9-2 squad something of a nail biter.

"Clarke tied us earlier in the season when we played at their place, and they knew what we had coming," said.  "They were ready for us."

The game was a seesaw battle the first half, as the two teams played to a standstill for a full 40 minutes. The second half saw Seaford score less than four minutes into it,  and then the Vikings put a cap on things late in the half with the second goal.

It was obvious that Clarke had come to play. Sweeper Nicole Wahlig was a potent force in the middle, whether tackling a Seaford player to disrupt a drive or marking the talented Nicole Nulty.

Meanwhile the Lady Rams were recipients of strong outside play from captain Michelle Colvin on the left and Nicole Russell on the right, who were frequently able to move the field of play into Seaford territory to their principal forward of the day, Abby Trotter, or to standout forward Hope Quinonez.

Clarke's best chance of the first half came with about 24 minutes remaining, rebounding from an unsuccessful corner kick and getting a decent shot off from the foot of Russell. And a free kick chance with three minutes remaining from about thirty yards out cleared a wall of white Lady Viking jerseys, but the Lady Rams were unable to capitalize on the opportunity.

Meanwhile, Seaford gave Clarke goalie Christina Pappas a workout, and for the first half, she proved she was up to the daunting challenge.

A series of surging counterattacks by the Lady Vikings resulted in three corner kicks and as many clear shots at goal in the first 20 minutes, and with ten minutes in the first half, a fast break for the hosts nearly resulted in a heart breaker for Clarke, but the shot bounced harmlessly off the crossbar.

With 36:27 in the second half showing on the game clock, Seaford struck, on a perfect corner kick that never hit the ground before being turned on for the icebreaker.

Clarke made a furious attempt to climb back into it and for the rest of the way, it was 'end-to-end' soccer.

The Lady Ram's best chance came with 31 minutes left in the game, on a fast break that found Trotter staring eyeball to eyeball with the Seaford goalie, and only the ball and a few yards of astroturf between them. Trotter shot right to left, but Kolat dived the same way, and punched the low line drive out of harm's way.

That was a good shot in front of their galie," said Coach Wachsberger. "We just didn't get the break."