By STEVE SINISKI
The Lady Rams caught a full head of steam at the end of the regular season and carried it straight through the first round of the Nassau County Class A playoffs last Saturday. Katelyn Walsh provided the offensive punch, scoring three goals in No. 6 Clarke's 4-1 victory over 11th-seeded Bethpage.
Clarke (2-9-1) turned around an early 1-0 deficit and advanced to the second round, where No. 3 Island Trees awaited on Nov. 2, after press time. If the Lady Rams managed to knock off the Bulldogs, they would advance to the third round tentatively scheduled for Saturday at Mitchel Field.
"We had a lot of changes at midseason but the girls are bringing it together and starting to play as a team," first-year coach Dana Condela said.
Walsh, the team's leading scorer with eight goals and three assists, brought Clarke even at 1-1 in the first half, then converted a penalty kick 12 minutes before intermission for a 2-1 lead. The defense took over from there, limiting the Golden Eagles to just 10 shots, all but one stopped by goaltender Marion Livermore. Walsh and Cassandra Dolan netted second-half scores for the final margin of victory.
"This is a great opportunity to play Island Trees," Condela said. "I think we can compete with a Conference I team if the girls put their hearts and minds to it."
Going into the matchup, Clarke was expecting a much more defensive battle, meaning sweeper Toby Klein, Kendra Raskopf and Livermore are going to take center stage. The backliners have limited three of the last four opponents to one goal or fewer. "The defense is going to be huge because they play aggressively," Condela said. "Bethpage had some good forwards with speed. [Livermore] is coming out and becoming a better communicator."
Clarke, which opened the year at 1-9 in Conference II play, earned three points in the final three league matches, shutting out Plainedge (2-0 on Oct. 26) and battling Herricks to a scoreless tie (0-0 on Oct. 17). The reason for the strong finish? The early stages of familiarity with a new head coach finally started to breed success. "The captains stepped up into a leadership role," Condela said of Nicole Peterson, Walsh and Klein. "It was a little shaky in the beginning but they continued to be positive. Everyone has a role on the team and it's going to take all 11 to be ready [in the second round]."
The Lady Rams, built for the long haul with a roster that has just two senior starters (Peterson and Vanessa Berrios), have received offensive contributions from a number of sources during the year. Aside from Walsh, Dolan has five goals and one assist, and junior Carissa Giglio has added a pair of scores with a helper.
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