Dynamic duo strikes again to lift John Jay girls soccer into the semifinals

Abby Mattiello getting tackled by her John Jay teammates after scoring a goal in quarter final victory. JIM MACLEAN PHOTO

By JIM MACLEAN 

The John Jay girls soccer team is on a roll, earning the No. 2 seed in the Section 1 Class AA tournament, and by now every opponent knows how well the Wolves are playing.

They also know a big reason why John Jay has earned that seed with a 12-2-2 regular season record is the combination of Maye Viders and Abby Mattiello as the two forwards have been scoring goals in bunches.

The duo was at it once again on Oct. 27, as John Jay hosted Yorktown in the quarterfinals. John Jay had a bye in the first round, but the Wolves came out flying against the Huskers to start the playoffs, as Mattiello scored a pair of goals and Viders had the other in a 3-1 victory to advance to the semifinals.

“Maye and I play great together, we just know the game and how we can contribute and work together to make something happen,” Mattiello said of her teamwork with Viders. “We were pretty excited and fired up, it’s the playoffs, every game is so competitive and we have to stay focused and put our minds to it.”

John Jay took control right from the opening whistle, creating scoring chance after scoring chance, corner kick after corner kick, applying the pressure on the Yorktown goal. Viders was able to capitalize for the first goal about five minutes into the game off an assist from Mattiello for a 1-0 lead.

The roles were reversed for the second goal about 10 minutes later as Mattiello scored off an assist from Viders to make it 2-0. Viders made her move up the field and crossed it to Mattiello, who drilled it home for the goal with 23 minutes left in the first half.

Julia Kowalczyk drills a shot for the Wolves.

“They have great chemistry together, the way they work out on the field, they know each other’s moves and they cause a lot of trouble for defenses,” John Jay coach Dave Nuttall said of Mattiello and Viders. “We knew what we had to do, the focus was to come out early, go hard, put them under pressure, get the lead and we did that. Having the lead we could start controlling the tempo and think about the next game.”

Up 2-0, Nuttall was able to turn to the depth on the roster as several players contributed a lot of minutes on the field, giving everyone a chance to rest with the next game just two days away.

In the second half, John Jay continued to control the game and Mattiello struck again, drilling a long shot into the upper corner for her second goal of the game and giving the Wolves a 3-0 lead with 21 minutes left to play.

The rest was up to the defense and John Jay goalie Evelyn Hermanto. With Mykel Papa leading the way, the back line defense, including Lila Baker, Alex Milich and Caroline Civetta, all played a strong game to help the Wolves advance.

Yorktown was able to break up the shutout with a goal around the 10-minute mark, but John Jay shut the door and closed out the win.

“That’s all that matters in the playoffs, get the win and advance,” added Nuttall. “We had it under control and we didn’t want tired legs, so we were doing a lot of rotations. When you do a lot of rotations you lose a bit of the flow, but it was more about preparing for Thursday. With a 3-0 lead we were confident and thinking let’s save some legs for the next game moving forward.”

John Jay faced a bigger test on Thursday in the semifinals, where the Wolves outlasted the No. 3 seed Mahopac 1-0 in overtime. They advance to the Section 1 championship game Sunday, Nov. 1, 10 a.m. at Arlington High School.