Soccer games with Harrison, Greeley leave Fox Lane fit to be tied

Christian Mejia Lopez battles for a loose ball against Harrison. JIM MACLEAN PHOTO

By JIM MACLEAN 

The good news is that the Fox Lane boys varsity soccer team made it through a busy week without a loss, but the frustrating news for the Foxes came in back-to-back games against league rivals where both games ended in a tie.

Fox Lane knew its league schedule would be a grind, game after game against solid opponents in a league where every team could beat another on any given day. That was certainly the case last week as the Foxes held off Yorktown for a 2-1 victory before tying Harrison 3-3 on Friday and then coming back the next day for a 0-0 tie against rival Horace Greeley at home on Saturday, Oct. 3.

With the win and two ties, Fox Lane now stands at 5-1-4 overall. The Foxes have proven they can play with anybody in an evenly matched field where several teams could claim the league title and make a run for a sectional title in the playoffs.

Harrison is the defending Section 1 Class A champions and the Huskies came to Fox Lane with just one loss on the season, two teams with almost identical records battling in the same league, and the results on the field would be a back-and-forth game ending in a tie. Fox Lane had taken the lead, but Harrison was able to score with four minutes left to end the game in a 3-3 tie.

“That’s the beauty of sports,” Fox Lane coach Tom Bond said after the Harrison game. “I thought we played great today. We were down 1-0 early and we battled. We were controlling the ball most of the game, but Harrison is a super good team and sometimes it just ends up in a tie.”

After Harrison had taken a 1-0 lead just two minutes into the game, Fox Lane was able to tie it up on a goal by Cristian Ormazabal and the Foxes then took the lead when Fredy Contreras scored on a penalty shot to make it 2-1 at halftime.

Once again Harrison responded with a goal to tie it up at 2-2 in the second half, but the Foxes applied the pressure with several scoring opportunities and corner kicks. The Foxes were finally able to capitalize when Ormazabal scored his second goal of the game with 15 minutes left to play to give the Foxes the lead. After the Huskies scored to even it up at 3-3, the Foxes applied the pressure with scoring chances off a free kick and a corner kick in the final two minutes, but the game ended in a tie.

Bond praised the effort of Ormazabal and fellow sophomore Joel Velasquez as he came on in the nine position to spark the Foxes.

“So many guys really made a big impact today, but two sophomores really stepped up in a big way,” Bond said. “Cristian scoring twice, he probably played his most complete game today, in the right place to finish. Joel came on and played a great nine in the second half. Seeing the younger guys do that in a big game against one of the best teams in the section is something to build from.”

A few hours later the Foxes were back on the home field to take on Horace Greeley on Saturday, and neither team could find the back of the net as the game ended in a 0-0 tie. Fox Lane goalie Luke Valenti and the defense did their job to earn the shutout.

On Wednesday, Sept. 30, Fox Lane faced Yorktown on the road and the Foxes came home with a 2-1 victory thanks to some big saves in goal by Valenti to preserve the win. Evan Cattanach and Fernando Haro scored the goals off assists from Kevin Lopez and Christian Mejia Lopez for the Foxes.

No rest for the weary as Fox Lane heads down the stretch of the regular season as the Foxes were set to host undefeated Eastchester on Wednesday, Oct. 7, before starting a five-game road trip including league games at Greeley on Oct. 8, and at John Jay on Oct. 10.