Lady Mustangs Soccer Ousted by Defending State Champs

The top-seeded South Side Lady Cyclones soccer team wasted no time in Friday night's first-round match against the No. 16 Mineola Lady Mustangs, scoring three times in the opening 10 minutes in route to a 6-0 victory at Skelos Field.

Christina Klaum, Keri Cavallo and Michaela Lynch put on a clinic early, each with one goal and one assist in the first 10 minutes.

"Every game we set ourselves a goal and today's goal was the three goals in 15 minutes, which we achieved," South Side head coach Shannon McEntee said. "... That was a nice start, just getting us into the swing of things."

Klaum got the Lady Cyclones on the board just 90 seconds into the game. After Mineola goalkeeper Sam Venus had trouble with a loose ball, Cavallo found Klaum wide open in the six-yard box for the score.

Four minutes later, Klaum turned past a Mineola defender and ripped a shot that squeezed past Venus onto the foot of Lynch, who buried the ball into an open net.

Just four minutes after that, Lynch crossed a gorgeous ball from the right side onto the head of Cavallo, who finished the play off the post and into the back of the net.

Venus, who was busy from the game's opening whistle, finished with 17 saves.

Klaum, a junior, led all scorers with two goals and one assist.

"We wanted to come out really strong for the playoffs," Klaum said. "... We wanted to prove to everybody what kind of team we are this year."

As the first half wound down, some quick passing gave South Side a 4-0 lead after Juliana Pellegrini found Katie Ford on a perfect one-timer into the right side of the net.

South Side possessed the ball for nearly 85 percent of the game, due in large to the team's quick passing and constant movement.

"We train for possession games," McEntee said. "We do a lot of ball work — that just happens to be our style, it's what we're really good at."

The impressive passing continued in the second half. A give-and-go between Allie Ford and Katie Ford ended with the latter finding Lady Cyclone Liz Lang wide open inside the six-yard box for a 5-0 lead.

Klaum capped off the scoring four minutes later. After receiving a pass from Justine Hamilton, Klaum turned past a defender and fired a shot from 20 yards out into the top of the net.

Despite the lopsided score, Mineola head coach Katherine Bennett said she was happy with her team's effort against the defending state champs.

"Yes, we were undefeated in our conference, but they knew that [South Side] had two goals scored against them all season, so they were nervous coming in," Bennett said. "But you could just tell, once they warmed up they really started to play there game. They really stepped up huge — I'm so proud of all of them."

No. 1 South Side will play No. 8 Wantagh in the second round on Oct. 31 at 4:30 p.m. at Skelos Field.