Girls Soccer: Wolves and Tuskers Battle to a Stalemate

SOMERS, N.Y. - On Tuesday, Oct. 8 John Jay traveled to Somers, and in Mia Bourla’s time, the goalie has only seen losses. So down one with 28 minutes remaining, Tiana Righetti stood one on one in front of the goal, and another loss seemed imminent.

“All I remember was it hitting off my foot,” said the senior, and the save meant more than a 1-0 loss.

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At 22:30, Coco Inglis ended up in front of the goal off a penalty kick, and the freshman made good for a 1-1 tie versus last year’s state semifinalists.

John Jay didn’t wait long to get started either. Jordan Kauftheil intercepted the ball at the forty, made a perfect sideline lead to Mykel Papa, and the Wolves had a corner kick. The ball teed, Julia Schmidberger came flying out with a one handed punch away.

Moments later, Kauftheil sent another sideline lead to Abby Mattiello and the incursion represented the game plan

“We played in the wide areas where they didn’t want us to play,” said Coach Dave Nuttall. Nonetheless, the Somers defense was able to intervene in front.

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So Kauftheil tried it from the other end. Mayer Viders committed theft in the John Jay zone, got the ball ahead, and found Kauftheil behind the defense.  Apparently too far, the play was whistled offside, and there wasn’t a lot of agreement from the John Jay crowd.

At 19:30, Inglis did get the timing right. She came up with a 50-50 ball at the thirty, and her pass ahead did leave a brief window open for Kauftheil. But the Somers defense was too quick, and slid tackled the ball away before the Wolf could pull the trigger.

Back the other way, John Jay stayed on their toes. With the play coming down the middle at 13:30, Myla Schneider won the race to the first contested ball and the rest of the defense followed suit to reset the game plan.

Kauftheil playing the sideline part again at 11 minutes, the senior found Inglis front and center. The defense closed in, blocked the underclassman’s first shot, and she recovered for another shot that Schmidberger fielded on the bounce.
Up high, Bourla matched her counterpart. On the Somers sideline, Julia Arbelaez launched with her all-state precision, and the John Jay goalie had the timing and the lift to level the playing field.

Of course, Somers kept at it. Down in the corner twice, Arbelaez made space, and her centering passes went on the b-line with purpose. On alert John Jay was there first, and the scoreboard remained unblemished to end the half.

Tiana Righetti was the first to almost rectify the situation. With John Jay attempting to switch directions, the Tusker got in the way, the ball kicked high and she ran under the bounce. Controlling off her head, Righetti had the right height, but the shot was wide on the short side.

Not done, Righetti threatened again. Only Bourla played long this time and came way out to kick away the transition pass.

Still, Somers wouldn’t quit. On the sideline, this time it was Arbelaez who had Bourla running for her money. Splitting the double team, the senior kicked away, and the John Jay goalie met the liner on the low down with 34 minutes to go.
But you can’t keep a squad like this down forever, and Ashley Kuchinsky was the one to rise up. Starting with the footwork of Arbelaez, the forward took the space, passed right, and Kuchinsky had the angle. On point, she shot, and the ball went in off the left post at 30:50.

Two minutes later, John Jay was looking down the barrel of Righetti’s foot and the coach didn’t sugarcoat the scenario.

“Tiana is a great player,” said Nuttall. “She gets you one on one, that’s not a good situation.”

No time for Bourla to think, the goalie’s game-saving reflex proudly took in the broader implication.

“If you can stop a shot from a girl who’s committed to Princeton, it feels pretty good,” she explained.

Unfortunately, the save got John Jay no closer, so Inglis and Papa played above their freshman heads. First it was Papa on the penalty kick, and a team player already, she gave credit elsewhere.

“Dave told me to drop it in the middle, and that’s what I did,” assured Papa.

Mission accomplished, Inglis made the rest sound easy. “One of my teammates headed it over, and I was just there,” she said.

No chance for Schmidberger, the Somers goalie almost found herself in the crosshairs again when John Jay won the sidelines with ten minutes to go. The ball popped forward, and Carly Mangiaracina momentarily had a clear path.

Instead, the Somers defense converged, and the Somers side was able to safely skip a beat.

The near fatal Somers arrhythmia was to come, though. In the final minute, Mattiello blocked a Somers defensive clear attempt, and in receiving the pass back from the sideline, the pay dirt she hit wasn’t what Jay was looking for. “Abby controlled and turned into the defender who caught her back leg,” said Nuttall.

No call, Nuttall blew the whistle himself. “The refs are scared of making big calls with 20 seconds on the clock,” the coach lamented.

The Wolves still left with a smile on their faces, and Bourla was all teeth.

“It was nice knowing that the final time playing Somers, we got to end on this note,” she concluded.

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