Little Red School House
and Elisabeth Irwin High School

A Pre-K-12 Progressive Education

Team Detail

LREI Lose Second Straight, But Look Better In Attack

J.Demster

Against FASNY, who until this season has been a league opponent, LREI struggled to close midfield gaps, and succumbed to long ball breakaways. 8th grader Cassidy Moskowitz had the Knights’ only goal.

FASNY and LREI have played some really great games in recent seasons, matching up regularly in league play. It’s been one of the first dates to circle on the ISAL calendar going back to 2013’s fantastic 1-1 draw, or 2014’s high energy meeting that FASNY won 2-1 before going on to win the regular season that year. With the French school leaving the league this season the game carried slightly less weight, but was still an excellent test for the Knights in their preparations.

Against Grace LREI seemed to still be finding their way into the season. They moved the ball well and dominated possession at times, but struggled to close gaps between their lines that gave their opponents space to launch balls over the backline. FASNY seemed to be employing this same tact, and used it to early success. It took less than 10 minutes for the away side to score the first goal of the game, though this came after several close attempts that goalkeeper Melissa Toledo did very well to scoop up. LREI looked strong going forward, creating chances especially down the right wing. The combination of midfielder Mia Schulte and forward Cassidy Moskowitz was especially potent. Schulte’s aggressive pressing of the ball created turnovers high up the field, and Moskowitz’s diagonal runs onto passes up the line gave her both crossing and shooting opportunities. But the team was never able to find the break through it needed to get on the scoresheet. FASNY would hit once more before the half, and find a third later in the second half.

LREI’s goal was a fantastic play by two of LREI’s younger players, freshman Leah Maathey and 8th grader Moskowitz. Maathey, playing centerback, hit a low driven ball that broke all three lines of the opponent and found a gap for Moskowitz to run in. The pass put her immediately in behind the FASNY backline. She beat the backs for speed and finished cooly at the near post after forcing the keeper to commit. The score came late in the game, but with enough time for the girls to pour on the pressure to find a second, though it never came.

The Knights will dust themselves off quickly, and get right back to work. Next week the team has three games in five days, the middle of which will be their first ISAL opponent. On Monday they take on Hewitt, and Wednesday they play Avenues to open league play. They round out the week against Loyola.

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