MPH soccer blanks Grimes, remains unbeaten

October 20, 2010

Many different kinds of pressure surround the Manlius-Pebble Hill boys soccer team as the Section III Class C playoffs near – including the maintaining of an undefeated regular season.

MPH completed a perfect run through the OHSL Patriot division Tuesday at home against Bishop Grimes, where the Trojans had to fight hard to earn a 2-0 victory over the Cobras.

As they have done all season, the Trojans’ defense, led by Tim Goldman, Alex Urist, Jimmy Gavigan and Ethan Rothschild, bottled up the opposition, limiting Grimes to four shots as goalie Jordan Gentile made a handful of key stops.

Meanwhile, Grimes goalie Mike Besbiaty made eight saves, but MPH scraped across one goal in each half. Mike Kardjian assisted on both of the goals – one scored by Goldman, the other by Jun Lee. The Cobras fell to 8-7 on the season.

Not wanting to be overshadowed too much, the MPH girls soccer team put a major scare into state-ranked Tully Monday night, but had to settle for a 1-0 defeat to the Black Knights.

Neither side scored in the first half, but the Trojans constantly found itself in a defensive mode, withstanding a wave of Tully scoring chances.

Sammy Appleby was superb, stopping 17 of the 18 shots she faced. Only in the second half did she bend, as Tully’s Jessica Riggall landed an unassisted goal to make the difference in the outcome.

Bishop Grimes’s girls team beat Pulaski 2-0 on Tuesday afternoon, taking 19 shots along the way. Alanna Hurley and Ellen Callahan each had one goal for the Cobras (8-6), with Alex Guhin earning an assist. Ashley Morgan made 10 saves to earn the shutout. A day later, Grimes and Cato-Meridian played to a 0-0 draw.