Girls soccer falls to Bangor in LVSSL playoffs
Salisbury girls soccer goalie Lily Schimeneck recently suffered an injury in the summer that put a kink in the Falcons’ lineup. Head coach Rick Babyak had been using four different goalies over the past couple of weeks as Schimeneck recovered from a shoulder injury.
In the second round of the Lehigh Valley Summer Soccer League playoffs on Monday, Quinn Wittman, the Falcons’ top goal scorer, was used in goal in the first half. Unfortunately, the Falcons seemed to miss her scoring at her normal forward position.
Bangor (Slaters FC) scored a goal in each half to defeat the CSG Falcons, 2-1, at Lehigh University’s Athletic Fields. Slaters FC will play ACCHS Vikettes in the semifinal round on Wednesday.
“We have a goalkeeper issue right now,” Babyak said. “Lily is hurt, so we don’t have a keeper. We were rotating people in goal, and Quinn is actually one of our better backup goalkeepers.
“We rotated three players in goal, and they were fine. Goalkeeping wasn’t our problem today. And the first half I actually thought we played well. We gave up one light goal there, but we played a decent soccer game in the first half.”
Bangor scored its second goal late in the second half. Wittman, who was replaced in goal by incoming senior Molly Foust, got the Falcons within a goal with a late score in the final minutes. But it was too much to overcome.
Syrena Pope also saw time in goal late in the second half, and Babyak was impressed with her play as well. It was the offense’s communication that upset the Falcons’ coach.
“In the second half, we were erratic,” Babyak said. “They had some life and played a physical game, and we got thrown off a little bit and did not play a smart game. We got bumped around a little bit and were putting balls in the air and creating more problems for ourselves with 50-50 balls, opposed to playing the ball through on the ground. We were bypassing our midfield.
“Our play from midfield to forward was a little rough in the second half.”
Schimeneck played in the field for some of the game, but is still working her way back from injury.
Northampton Black and Spartans Blue will face off in the other semifinal game on Wednesday. The winners will meet in Thursday’s championship game on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on Field 3.