Girls soccer: Landisi, Haase lead undefeated Beacon in rout of Kingston

BEACON – Noelle Haase, for lack of a better term, bugged out. She shot into a momentary panic when assistant coach Marissa Benson mentioned that an insect was perched on her. The Beacon senior jumped, screamed and began swatting at the air.

“I’m afraid of bugs,” she said of the kinda-comical scene at halftime. “I didn’t even see it, but I could hear the buzz.”

In an odd coincidence, her reaction was a little like that of the folks who warned Haase and her girls soccer teammates months ago to brace for a difficult season. After a long-awaited run to the section final last fall, Beacon graduated a chunk of its core, and the common perception was that it would result in this group taking a significant step back.

“They weren’t being negative,” Reilly Landisi said, “but a lot of people legitimately thought it would be a rebuilding year. They said, ‘With all the younger girls stepping in, they’re gonna need time to develop.”

They feared the Bulldogs’ championship window might've closed. That had yet to be proven, of course. They hadn’t seen it. They just heard the buzz.

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“Losing 10 seniors, seven of them starters, isn’t easy,” Haase said. “We lost people from each position group, so I understand why people had doubts. But for us to be ‘rebuilding’ and start off this strong, it’s awesome. I’m proud of what we have.”

What they have is a handful of experienced stars buoyed by a cluster of talented underclassmen, who are contributing to what might be their most promising regular season in decades.

Landisi scored three goals and the young defense helped silence Kingston as undefeated Beacon rolled in a thorough 6-0 win on Monday.

“It’s been incredible because we thought we’d be rebuilding, but it’s been a reload,” said head coach Michael Lentini, whose team has won its first 12 games. “We lost a lot of key players and we backfilled with sophomores, and it’s worked.”

Landisi is among the best finishers in Dutchess County and the striker routinely scores in bunches. Haase and Rory LaDue anchor the midfield — now, with eighth-grader Teaghan Burks alongside them — and their guile offers direction to both lines.

But the Beacon defense features 10 ^th -graders Julie Whittemore, Sarah Ramkalawon, Victoria McKay and Lily Mack, with freshman goalie Victoria Maruggi. Still, they’ve surrendered only eight goals thus far, and that includes victories over some large-school opponents, including Class AAA Kingston.

Some of those young'uns have been on the varsity roster since middle school, Lentini said, so the experience and comfort at this level belies their age.

Beacon scored three quick goals, took a 4-0 lead to halftime, and began pulling its starters midway through the second half. But one of the most exciting moments for them came with 13 seconds remaining. Kingston moved the ball well and eventually set up an attempt in front of the goal, but Piper Clark blocked it and gained possession, triggering a chorus of applause and cheers from the sideline.

“What got us so hyped is that she’s a freshman,” said Landisi, a senior. “For her to seal the win for us and preserve the clean sheet was great to see. That was the first time (Kingston) got far into our end and got a quality shot off, and there she was to stop it.”

LaDue had a goal and an assist, Burks had two assists, and Stella Reinke and Zoe Hammond each added a goal. Haase and seventh-grader Louisa Virgadamo each had an assist, and Maruggi made six saves.

For the defense, Haase said, “their equivalent of a goal is not allowing any,” so the shutouts are celebrated.

“These young girls don’t act young,” Landisi said. “They’re mature and focused and do their jobs well. After our second scrimmage, it seemed like we found ourselves and got it going. That gave me confidence coming into the season, so I’m not surprised by the success.”

Beacon has accomplished this despite being without midfielder Claire Morgan, a dynamic freshman who was injured in their third game. But there is optimism, Lentini said, that she could return during the playoffs.

The Bulldogs have four regular-season games remaining, including a challenging matchup with Section 1’s John Jay-East Fishkill on Thursday, so running the table won’t be easy.

“It’s one game at a time and we’re not that focused on our record,” Lentini said. "But it’s special to go on a run like this and we definitely appreciate that.”

This already has been one of the most fruitful seasons in recent memory for their athletic department as both soccer teams are in title contention, and possibly volleyball, and varsity football is off to its best start since 2014.

“We’re a big sports community, but we’re not used to having this many teams do this well at the same time,” Haase said with a smile. “I don’t know what’s in the water here.”

The girls soccer team likely will enter the Section 9 Class A tournament with a high seed and, for a season that began with lowered expectations, there now are high hopes.

Last year, Beacon reached the section final for the first time since winning a championship in 1988 and, after narrowly losing to Our Lady of Lourdes, the obvious goal is to take at least a step forward, players said.

“We want that title; it’s been so long,” Landisi said. “We’re communicating well and we’ve gotten better at using the width of the field. Nobody is scared and we’re confident. We’re in a good place right now and we just wanna keep it rolling.”

Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4

This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Girls soccer: Landisi, Haase lead undefeated Beacon in rout of Kingston