New Ro-White Plains, the remix
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- October
- 18
If you were driving along I-287 or the Hutch near where those two major Westchester arteries intersect about 5:30 ish today, those three news helicopters weren’t hovering around White Plains High School with the hopes of getting a little footage of the rival Tigers and Huguenots. Apparently, they were in fast pursuit of Joe Torre.
Too bad because they missed an exciting game. New Ro and the Tigers played to a 1-1 deadlock and the Huguenots spent the final 40 minutes of the game a man down thanks to a red card. No matter. They  specifically Daniel Espinoza  scored with about 20 minutes left in regulation and held White Plains scoreless the rest of the way.
It was your typical game between the two  scrappy and emotional. That’s one of the reasons why I love covering games when these two teams meet. The atmosphere and rivalry is unparalled. It’s a big game among the Hispanic contingent of both communities.
“It’s always been a big rivalry with White Plains for years, years, and years (for) Spanish people,” New Rochelle’s Daniel Espinoza said.
A lot of the players know each other and some even play on the same travel soccer teams. It makes for an interesting matchup to say the least. Speaking of interesting, New Rochelle certainly is. The Huguenots are a difficult team to get a read on. One game, they look like gang busters, the next they go belly up. It’s hard to know which team is going to show up on any given day.
“We have our great games and our ups and downs,” New Ro coach Greg Papadopoulos said. “That is unfortunately the negative thing about this team.”
Translation: Don’t be too surprised if the Huguenots lay an egg against Mount Vernon, which is the same thing that happened two days after New Ro upended the Tigers 4-0 two weeks ago. I asked Marco Noriega how are they going to make sure there is no let down this time.
“We are going to play as a team and lets see what happens” he said.
White Plains, meanwhile, still controls its own fate in the race for the League I-A title. A win over Mount Vernon Monday would secure it, which gives the Tigers incentive as they prepare for the first round of sectionals next weekend.
“We are in a very good position,” Tigers coach Marcel Galligani said. “We’re exactly where we want to be. We control our own destiny.”
This entry was posted
on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 6:25 pm by Rod Boone. 
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hey rod, just one question, what is necessary in order to get into sectionals? is it true that a 40% overall winning percentage gets you in OR a 50% in league play? just wondering…
Rod, too bad you wasted your time watching White Plains and New Ro yesterday when you could have watched some REAL soccer at Cross River where John Jay and Yorktown played a magnificant game that ended in a 1-0 overtime win for JJ. The game was well played and well coached and the athletes showed their skill and proved that you can play the beautiful game without the foul and yellow card filled games played in Southern Westchester. Just about every game in Conference 2 Central is exciting and skillfully played by teams such as John Jay, Greeley, Lakeland, Fox Lane, and Yorktown. Do yourself a favor and take in Greeley-John Jay on Monday or John Jay-Lakeland on Wednesday and see the game played RIGHT.
I agree… Greeley, Yorktown, John Jay, Lakeland, & Fox Lane, produce some of the most competitive soccer in the section.. To be honest, from what I’ve seen, Yorktown is arguably the best team in the section but quite frankly, cannot put it in the back of the net. What separates John Jay from the conference is the fact that they flat out find ways to score. Fox Lane relies on certain individuals, while the rest just sits and watched.
But back to Yorktown, what’s a team going to do if they just flat out can’t score? Posession or how you play the game means nothing, if you can’t put it in. And of course for Greeley and Lakeland, are good every year, as expected.
nikesccr,
I posted this on the thread titled “The winner is …” But here it is again. According to the Section 1 coaches handbook, only one of the three criterium needs to be meet to qualify.
1. Win 40 percent of overall games
2. Win 50 percent of class games (ie: you play in a Class B/C league and beat at least half of the teams in your class on yor schedule, you’re in)
3. Win 50 percent of all class and above your class record. (ie: Class B school is 5-7 in Class B, 1-0 in Class A and, and 1-0 in Class AA. Combined record is 7-7, so you’re in).
Hope this helps everyone because we are exactly a week away from sectionals starting.
Rod, who do you think is going to win the league between Greeley, Lakeland, and John Jay? And then who would you put your money on winning the section for class AA and A?
This site is great!
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