The regular season is over and both Peekskill Varsity Boys and Girls soccer teams are gearing up for their first obstacle in the postseason.
On Saturday, Oct. 26, the Peekskill Varsity Boys Soccer team will take on Gorton High School for the first round of the Section 1 Class AA tournament at Torpy Field at 3 p.m.
Host Peekskill is ranked No. 2 in Class AA and will be the favorite entering Saturday’s game. Their opponent, Gorton, is ranked No.15 in Class AA with a season record of four wins, 10 losses, and two draws.
For the sixth game of the regular season, the Peekskill Red Devils faced Gorton at home and won comfortably, 8-2. The Peekskill boys finished their season last week with a record of 12 wins, two losses, and two draws. The Peekskills boys are led by head coach Jonathan Iasillo and assistant coach Jaime Guevara.
“We are feeling a bit nervous but strong going into Saturday. We’ve been training like crazy and recently had a scrimmage against Ossining to fix anything we needed to work on,” said senior captain Daniel Farez. The Peekskill boys hope to rely on Farez for creativity on the field as he currently is tied with senior Juan Ventura for most assists in the squad with six.
For the Gorton Wolves, their main priority when they face Peekskill will be to keep senior forward Umaru Conteh quiet – something very few teams have been able to do this season. Conteh has scored 23 goals this season, including two against Gorton during their first encounter.
While Peekskill may seem to have gotten an easier opponent for their first game in sectionals, only time will tell if the team moves on to the quarter finals after Saturday’s game.
Girls Soccer
On Friday, Oct. 25, the Peekskill Varsity Girls Soccer team will play Mahopac for the first round of the Section 1 Class AA tournament at Mahopac High School at 4:30 p.m. On paper this clash will be a very close one, with Peekskill being ranked No. 9 and Mahopac No. 8 in Class AA.
The Peekskill girls are currently in good form, winning their last three games: 6-1, 6-0, 3-0. They finished the regular season with a record of eight wins, five losses, and two draws.
The Mahopac girls finished their season on Monday, Oct. 21 with a 1-0 loss against Yorktown. They finished the regular season with a record of nine wins, four losses, and three draws.
“We know Mahopac will be a tough game but we are all very excited for it because we’ve been working so hard as a team to improve with every game and practice,” said senior captain Janeyra Maldonado.
“To prepare, we’ve been training and discussing new tactics for Friday. Yesterday, we had a scrimmage against North Salem where we got to try these things out and see what we can improve before Friday,” she added.
Coach Anthony DiCuio had nothing but positive things to say when asked to comment on Friday’s game. “This team has improved tremendously from where we started to where we are now and they are ready to play their best game of the season this Friday.”
The Peekskill girls have many exciting and talented individuals to look out for on Friday including: senior Janeyra Maldonado, sophomore Valeria Otavalo, freshman Jozelyn Zhinin, and freshman Kimberly Alfaro. Alfaro currently leads the team in goals with 14.
If the Peekskill girls are able to overcome the Mahopac girls on their turf on Friday and move forward to the quarter finals, they will play again early next week.
All photos courtesy of Peekskill City School District.
