by Jen Burhans
The Berlin Central School Girls Soccer team traveled to New Lebanon on September 23 to play under the lights. As always it was a closely fought game and both teams played near their top levels. New Lebanon wanted to be the first team to score on Berlin this year. Berlin was defending a 6-0 record and had held all other teams scoreless against them. The play went back and forth for most of the first 20 minutes with a speedy NL offense getting stopped by an equally fast couple of Berlin defenders.
New Lebanon goalie Christine Bienes made several saves to thwart Berlin’s top scorer. Berlin’s midfielders stepped up their passing game, and Berlin got the scoring drive started. New Lebanon answered back and was able to get one in over the top of Berlin’s goalie, Nicole Zlotnik. At the end of the half the score was 4-1.
Berlin’s defense was challenged at the start of the second half but held off NL and was able to pass the ball up to the mid-fielders and start multiple scoring drives for the offense. NL held off all but 2 more goals but most of the play fell into the NL defensive side of the field as their offense started to wear down. Berlin’s Nicole Zlotnik made 8 saves on the night. Both teams played their best and this was Berlin’s most challenging game so far. Coach Berschwinger said after the game that all her players stepped up and played a good game. She was very happy that they played up to New Lebanon’s level.
BCS 4 Emma Willard 0
On Thursday, September 25, Berlin faced Emma Willard. This marked the midway point for the girls’ team. EW came out strongly, and it looked like their fast center striker might be troublesome for Berlin’s defense, but Jordan Cahill was up for the job. After stopping several drives from the bigger striker Cahill was able to get the ball out to her fullback, KC Gosse. Gosse sent it up to the waiting midfielders who immediately went on the attack. EW had their hands full trying to put some bodies on Berlin’s offensive drives. Berlin’s midfielders, Juliena D’Alessio, Brittany Gilbert and Maggie Gordan, did a great job of controlling the area between the penalty boxes, both offensively and defensively. They were able to pass the ball to their strikers and controlled anything EW tried to get past them not allowing much action for the Berlin goalie by the second half.
Berlin seemed to play even better in this game, and the team looked like a strong unit getting top play from all 11 members at the same time. The bench got a workout as 2 Berlin players went down with injuries, but even then Berlin stayed a cohesive unit with not many weak spots showing. The team stayed undefeated with a 5-0 win and still only has one goal scored against them. This win put Berlin at the top spot in the CHVL league. Trying to stay focused and play hard each game may be the girls’ biggest challenger until Sectionals roll around in a few weeks.