The Long Island Rough Riders maintained their perfect home record earlier this month with a convincing 3-0 victory over the North Jersey Valkyries. Goals by Kim DeCesare, Lulu Echverry and Amanda Epstein secured the 4th straight home win and solidified the Rough Riders’ second spot in the Northeastern Conference. From the start, the home team seeked to gain control over the midfield.
While the Valkyries chose a more defensive game plan, the Rough Riders found their spaces out wide. Amanda Ferranti proved to be very agile and offensive-minded, attacking on both sides of the field. Valkyries’ defender Brielle Buis had the visitors’ most dangerous moment at 16 minutes when her shot from 30 yards out just missed the right upper 90 by inches. Sue Weber and Jen Leaverton recorded four early shots for the Rough Riders but could not bring any danger to the Valyries’ goal yet. This changed at 22 minutes when Kim DeCesare placed a powerful header into the left corner off Lulu Echeverry’s precise cross from the left flank.
From then on, the Rough Riders settled in their attacking half and dictated the pace of the game. At 40 minutes, Valkyries’ goalkeeper Katherine Courter tried to clear the ball outside her box but played it right into Echeverry’s feet. The Rough Riders forward reacted quickly and chipped the ball over Courter into the empty net to double the advantage. Even the 2-0 lead did not slow down the Rough Riders.
At 42 minutes, Jen Leaverton’s cross found the head of Lulu Echeverry who could not put enough power on the ball. Two minutes later, Amanda Ferranti took a one-touch shot after Amanda Epstein’s cross, only to miss the net by inches, keeping the half time score at 2-0. Rough Riders goalie Kimberly Comstock was brought in for the second 45 minutes but would not have many opportunities to prove herself. While the Rough Riders’ dominance over the midfield remained obvious, they only created one more serious scoring opportunity.
At the 55 minute mark, Amanda Ferranti played an intelligent through ball to fellow midfielder Epstein who calmly shot the ball through Courter’s legs to complete the scoring. A well-organized team performance secured the second consecutive shutout for the Rough Riders and the 4th straight home win. “It is great to see that our defense is coming together” said Rough Riders head coach Steve Cadet. “This is our second consecutive shutout. If we want to go far this season, we need to minimize the goals we concede and the defensive performance by our entire team was very good today.”
