Lady Spartans off to fast start

Florida - Lady Spartan varsity soccer coach Joe DiMattina plucked players from five different classes to make up his 18-player 2005 roster and that mixture of youth and experience seems to be having positive results in a big hurry. Florida topped Millbrook 5-0 in the season opener last Tuesday and took the measure of Eldred 8-1 on Friday. Both games were at home. Although the team seems top-heavy with eight seniors, only four of those players have meaningful varsity experience. High-scoring striker Theresa Space returns as does Janice Harter, Kylie Burnside and Angela Flores. Sara Sciorra, another senior, was out injured all of last season. She'll be welcomed back. All three juniors, Patricia Collins, Jillian Harter and Larissa Brodman, saw lots of action in 2004. Sophomore mid-fielder Mallory Matuseski was solid last year and should be even better this year. The other sophomore, Kathleen Folkl, will see action at mid-field and is the backup goalkeeper. The starting goalie is freshman Alina Greiser, a freshman who saw spot duty last year in that key position as a backup for Melissa Oliphant. Oliphant has decided to bypass soccer this year. Greiser's twin sister Vivien, also saw varsity action last year as did freshman midfielder Michelle Dugan. Jillian Collova is another freshman speedster. Jessica Hoare, an eighth-grader, will see action up front as she fills in on the front line. Against Millbrook it was freshman Dugan who led the scoring with two goals. Space, Burnside and Folkl contributed the other goals as the Spartans dominated. Greiser was called upon to make a total of three saves to record the shutout. Against the Eldred Yellowjackets, Space booted home three scores and just missed that many more. Dugan again tallied twice. Other goals were scored by senior Alice Mateosian, Harter and Collova. Matuseski and Colova led the assist department with two apiece. Florida has move up to Class C this year so the Lady Spartans will be playing in Division V against old-time rivals Tuxedo and Chester. Fallsburg and Tri-Valley round out the five-team division. Goal number one is to capture that division title. How they fare in those games should be a good indicator for future success in the sectionals and the state tournament.