Winning homecoming for Spartans, Lady Spartans

FLORIDA-The homecoming soccer games last Saturday for both the Spartans and the Lady Spartans were icing on the cake for a very productive week. The boys led up to their 3-0 win against the Family School with three straight wins. The previous Saturday they captured the championship of the Hunter-Tannersville Tournament with a tie-breaker shoot-out, 3-0, against Cairo-Durham. The regulation game ended in a 1-1 tie. They followed that title game with a 1-0 squeaker on the road against Division V opponent Tuxedo. On Thursday, back home, they took the measure of league rival Tri-Valley 3-0. At Hunter-Tannersville Chris Slesinski scored the only goal for Florida in regulation on a pass from Corey deJong. In the tie-breaker shoot-out Bryan Folkl, Mickey Collins and Dylan Gaucher, in that order, all rammed home their pressure kicks. And leaning toward experience, coach Bill Steele placed senior Brenden Myers in goal. The move paid off as Myers excelled, blanking Cairo-Durham. Against Tuxedo Rich Nozkowski fed Phil Melli for a second-half goal which stood up for that 1-0 win. Keeper Wayne Hallock turned away eight Tuxedo shots. On Thursday at home against Tri-Valley, following a scoreless first half, the Spartans broke the game open with three second-half goals. Slesinski broke the deadlock after taking a short pass from Nozkowski. Folkl set up goal number two and Chris Beers finished it off. On goal three Folkl was the recipient of a crossing pass from Kyle O'Sullivan and powered it in for the final goal. Hallock registered another shut-out. In the homecoming game Florida downed the Family School 3-0. Folkl led the scoring with two first-half goals, the first a difficult header off a free kick by Dylan Gaucher. Lee Buelta notched goal number three in the second half. Dylan Gaucher, deJong and Slesinski earned assists. Hallock turned away nine shots on goal. That Spartan overall record now stands at 8-0. The 6-0 win for the Lady Spartans in the homecoming game capped a week which saw them win two and lose one, all in non-league action. They suffered their first loss of the year to Division III Goshen by 3-1. Larissa Brodman scored the lone Spartan goal. Alina Greiser was kept busy in goal, registering 13 saves. Player against a lower Division team (a new experience for Florida which has moved up to Class C) the Lady Spartans dominated against Chapel Field, winning 7-1. Freshman Jillian Collova led the Spartan charge with three goals. For long-time Spartan soccer fans, you might detect a strong similarity in the style of play between Collova and one-time Spartan standout Christine Kirby. Other goals were scored by eighth-grader Jessica Hoare and freshman Vivien Greiser. Goals were also scored by Brodman and Theresa Space who also kicked in with two assists. In the homecoming game against the Family School, Florida prevailed 6-0. Space continued to pile up goals with three; Michelle Dugan, Hoare and Collova also booted home goals against a spirited but out-manned Family School. The Lady Spartans upped their overall record to 7-1. They get a break now with only two games in the next two weeks.