Hilton Cadets advance to semis
in Girls Section V AA Soccer

Hilton opened the 2003 Section V Girls soccer tournament with their third match of the year against the Penfield Patriots on Tuesday, October 21 at Hilton. The teams had split road victories during the regular season. It didn't take long for the scoring as Marisa Clark, a senior central midfielder, broke in on Penfield's defense and beat the keeper for a 1-0 lead 1:30 into the game. Penfield responded five minutes later to tie the game 1-1.

As the conditions continued to deteriorate and the defenses settled in, the Cadets were getting the better chances, but could not finish. The teams played the next 95 minutes, regulation and two 10 minute overtimes without scoring.

A five minute sudden death period was next. About a minute and a half into the first sudden death period, Clark slid a ball through the Penfield defense onto the foot of breaking junior midfielder Lyndsey Carr. Carr chipped the ball far post and junior striker Heather Steuer was there to drive the ball into the back of the net for the Hilton 2-1 overtime win.

The second round found the Cadets paired with another familiar foe, the much respected Our Lady of Mercy. Mercy knocked Hilton out in a quarterfinal game last season. The Cadets had revenge on their minds and would like nothing better than to atone for last season's loss. Mercy came in with a high flying attack led by striker Mary Carpenter. Cadet Coach Deb Lipiani assigned junior stopper Angela Piccardo as a defensive mark, a move that would prove successful. Hilton opened the scoring late in the first half with a perfectly placed shot by Junior Celia Patarino into the lower corner of the Mercy net assisted by Marina Accordo.

As the teams came out for the second half, adjustments for Mercy had them applying more pressure from the back making it more difficult for the Cadets to clear the zone and mount a transition offense. Suddenly, Hilton broke through the pressure as Patarino found junior Amanda Hayward just past midfield streaking in on the Mercy keeper who finished play making it 2-0 Hilton.

The pressure finally paid off for Mercy with about nine minutes to play in the second half as Lauren Golisano got the Monarchs on the board with a shot from the 18, making it 2-1. The Cadets defense stiffened, led by Piccardo, senior Kelly Baccaro, junior Jill Bolten, freshman. Casey Oyer and sophomore Val Sherwood and they were able to hold off Mercy and advance to the tournament semifinals Tuesday, October 28 at Brockport to face Canandaigua, who beat Athena to advance.