Kennedy contending in new conference

Heading down the stretch of the regular season, Kennedy finds itself exactly where it had hoped in the girls’ soccer standings— jockeying for position near the top of Conference A-1.

The Lady Cougars (5-3-2 overall, 3-3-2 in A-1) sat comfortably in third place and still within striking distance of second-place Garden City with five games remaining. Led by a senior class of seven, including five in the starting lineup, the key for Kennedy has been a veteran defense and goalkeeping complemented by a timely offensive attack.

The Lady Trojans gave themselves a little breathing room in second place, and more importantly evened the season series with a 2-1 win last Saturday —the Lady Cougars won the first meeting between the teams, 3-1 on Sept. 19. Sophomore Sam Dorushkin, Kennedy’s top goal scorer, netted her seventh of the season in the defeat and also had her team’s only score in a 1-1 tie with Clarke on Oct. 3. “She’s scrappy and gets in the right place at the right time,” coach Janine Bizelia said of her forward who was among the top three scorers in Conference A-1. 

In the tie with the Lady Rams, Kennedy had three cracks at the net in the final minute — one shot went wide, another was stopped by the goalie and a third hit the post — but couldn’t break the deadlock.

But while Dorushkin has been the No. 1 offensive option, the team’s also gotten production from a variety of other places, including its defense. Senior Frankie Priore has scored a pair of goals on direct kicks, and senior Allison Jones has added another score on a corner kick. Goals from the backline may be rare for some teams, but given the fact both Jones and Priore are four-year varsity players, Bizelia is able to take advantage of their talents and provide unique opportunities. “They have a little freedom to go forward because I know they’re strong enough to go back and make the adjustments,” she said.