John Jay’s Season ends on the Pleasantville Whistle Stop

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On Thursday October 30, John Jay traveled to Pleasantville for the semifinals and the cold, rainy welcome obviously wasn’t the only obstacle. The Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead and the Wolves looked dead in the water. Not quite, the girls cut the lead in half and with two minute left in the game, the tying goal landed in the net. Unfortunately, the whistle said otherwise.

After Maye Vider’s corner kick went off Audrey Oestreicher’s head, the goalie went down on her clearing punch, the whistle blew and the subsequent breach of the goal line proved nothing but show in the 2-1 John Jay defeat.

Still, the Wolves came out on fire, and it didn’t matter that the strong wind was not at their backs. With only 49 seconds ticking off, Kayla Cambareri intercepted a Pleasantville clear and got the ball into Oestreicher.

Alarm bells raised, the defense converged and the Panther goalie covered. Kicking away, the Panthers weren’t going anywhere. John Jay kept the home team hemmed in, and back to Mykel Papa, the Wolf launched the chance high and wide at 38:15.

Back to the goalie, Cambareri made sure the cats couldn’t escape. She won the sideline battle, and her chip shot inside had the Pleasantville goalie barely winning the race against Oestreicher at 37:15.

30 seconds later, Cambareri won again and toughing it out on the sideline yielded a penalty kick. Papa doing the honors, she connected with Cambareri’s head, but the trajectory went straight to the stop gap.

Then the Pleasantville offense joined the fray. Two bouncing passes from midfield put Samantha Shultz on a collision course with Abby Mattielo. Boom, the two car pile up was whistled and John Jay took over at 34:45.

The ball eventually making its way to Mattielo, the defender led Viders on the sideline, and the wing’s determined advance left enough space for a centering pass. White jerseys getting a foot on, there just wasn’t enough leg to put a shot on goal.

Oestreicher had plenty when her footwork tripped an advancing Nehla Sauthoff. A penalty shot at 30 minutes, Brooke Epstein made a leaping grab, and the scoreboard remained unlit.

Two minutes later, Emma Perry led Schultz perfectly, but with the wing going one on one with Oestreicher, the Panther’s centering attempt banged off the sliding John Jay defender. The ensuing corner kick bouncing harmlessly through, Pleasantville still retained possession.

Making the most of it, Sofia Donahue ended up with an angle on Epstein and kicked away. The Wolf made a diving one handed deflection, and Lila Baker kicked the ball out of the crease at 26:46.

So the pressure shifting with the wind at Pleasantville’s back, the Panthers got the game changer when John Jay was whistled for a tripping penalty against Mia Walker. The free kick came in on target, Epstein punched away, but Schultz recovered with a header into the goal.

In at 22:05, the Panthers continued to scratch when Schultz got ahead of the field again with 16 minutes to go. Not good enough, Epstein took away the angle, and the ball went into the side netting.

Back the other way, a lead pass to Mattielo led to several throw ins. Even so, Schultz came away with the ball and winged it down the sideline. In full flight, she led Faith Brown between two defenders, and the center came away with the ball. A one v one with Epstein taking shape, Brown shot and snuck the ball inside the post for a 2-0 lead.

Playing prevent defense, Pleasantville kept up their end to reach intermission and continued the successful strategy for a full 21 minutes. That is until a long harmless kick to the John Jay defense put the screws to the Panther’s game plan.

John Jay obliged the pleasantry to the other side, and Papa ended up with a penalty kick. Up high, the Panther goalie deflected, but Viders was there to knock it in at 18:42.

No real change to the approach, Pleasantville persisted with simple clears and John Jay kept hammering and hemming in.

Finally Viders received a long pass on the right, dribbled all the way to the other corner and forced a corner kick. She then put a perfect ball on Oestreicher’s head, and when the goalie punched high, she landed on all fours. Unfortunately, the referee’s screech negated the goal off Baker’s foot, and there were no more miracles.

Nonetheless, the fight to the end still made these Wolves winners.

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