Lady Cyclones Stay Hot; Rout Lawrence 7-0

Opposing teams are going to have a difficult time knocking off the defending state girl's soccer champions if they can't score any goals against them.

The South Side Lady Cyclones once again flexed their defensive muscle on Monday against the Lawrence Pride, routing their opponents 7-0 to give them three shut outs in their first three games. With the win, South Side improved to 3-0 on the season.

The Lady Cyclones have now outscored their opponents 13-0 this season and appear to have lost very little offensively or defensively from last year's championship team. Despite out-shooting Lawrence 33-0, coach Shannon McEntee knows there is room for improvement if they hope to repeat as champions, and they will have to finish more of their scoring opportunities.

"We need to shift our mentality to finish earlier in the game," she said. "We had a lot of good opportunities throughout the game, but I'm just glad they're taking some shots from range."

Senior captain Caitlin Hines had two goals in the second half, both of which were assisted by Julie Beyar – but the story of the game was freshman Kelsey Ford, who put two balls in the back of the net.  Twice, the ball found Ford's foot at the foot of the goal line, and she was able to finish, including a rebound off a saved penalty shot seven minutes into the game.

"Kelsey Ford played a great game today," her coach said. "She didn't slow down at all and kept her focus.  She made some great runs, which led to her goals. It was just a great game."

Lawrence's first year coach, Pete Hurley, said he knew going into this game that this was the biggest challenge on his team's schedule, and the visiting team didn't disappoint.

"They were a finely-oiled machine the whole game, you can see their team chemistry when they play together," he said. "They have the skills to see the whole field and spread it all over the place with their passing."

The Lady Cyclones play their next game  on Sept. 23 at Malverne at 4:15 p.m. 

South Side          3            4            -            7

Lawrence            0            0            -            0

S.S. goals-assists: Kelsey Ford 2-0, Caitlin Hines 2-0, Jacqueline Cifarelli 1-1, Brianna McNally 1-1, Lily McLaughlin 1-0, Meghan Hines 0-1, Julie Beyar 0-2, Kayleen Malizia 0-1, Michaela Lynch 0-1.

Shots: S.S. 33, Lawrence 0.

Saves: Lauren Lopresti (SS) 0, Kelsey Berki (SS) 0, Nicole Robinson (L) 26.

Corners: S.S. 6, Lawrence 0.

Records: SS (3-0), Lawrence (0-1).