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Girls' soccer season ends with heartbreak

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

By Eric Levine, Allderdice High School (City of Pittsburgh Schools)

The Allderdice girls' soccer team suffered a demoralizing defeat after a city-league dominating season. Despite going 10-0 in the city league regular season, the Lady Dragons fell 1-0 to the Schenely Spartans on October 30 in a devastating loss, where the score did not reflect the girls' quality of play.

The team lost six starters from last year, and faced the challenging problem of personnel rebuilding.

"I think that we've responded well to the difficulty of losing half of our starting line-up," said junior player Eva Chernoff. Chernoff, a starting mid-fielder, plays the role of the team's enforcer, with the tendency to jostle with and thrash her opponents.

The starting offense consists of sophomore forward Louisa Munian, junior forward/ defensive tackle Anne Geller, senior mid Molly "the mennis" Ennis, junior mid Eva Chernoff, and junior outside-mids Yael "Yao" Engel and Sarah Schreiber. The starting sweeper is senior co-captain Dominique Ward, flanked by sophomore back Gretchen Schwartz on the left, and freshman back Martha Engberg on the right. Molly "The Gnat" Grace plays the pivotal stopper position, but she is also one of the city's most versatile players, with her ability to play any position. Freshmen Aileen Lerch and Lilly Freedman are the first subs off the bench, with Freedman showing promise as the legacy to her brother, senior Sam Freedman. Junior mid-fielder Alex Linn has been providing valuable support from the bench throughout the season.

Despite the team's regular season undefeated record in the mediocre City League, the Lady Dragons have struggled in WPIAL games, going 3-7-1 with unfortunate losses to Penn Trafford, Oakland Catholic, Franklin Regional, Baldwin, and Shadyside Academy. When it focused and played well, it beat McKeesport and Seton-La Salle, but it has not lived up to its potential quite like the boys' team, which beat WPIAL powerhouses Shaler, Thomas Jefferson, and Penn Trafford, and posts a 17-2-2 record.

Several of the team's members are some of the most talented players that it has ever seen. Grace, arguably the team's best player, can juke and beat just about any opponent who she goes against. Also, Ennis and Ward have provided the team with vital speed, strength, and senior leadership, which has proved monumental in all of their games.

One of the team's greatest strengths is the large number of skilled players coming off the bench who can fill in for fatigued and injured players without the team missing a beat. Emonds ia a very vocal and intense coach, and he is usually highly engaged in the game.  He is also unhesitant to argue a controversial call. 

Despite truly outplaying their opponent, the talented Lady Dragons lost a devastating 1-0 game to the Lady Spartans, but won every regular season game in the city, which stands as a tribute to their perseverance.