Girls semifinal wrapups
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- November
- 16
If you haven’t heard already, Greeley lost 3-1 and Briarcliff won 1-0, meaning the Bears stick around for tomorrow’s 12:15 p.m. Class B championship. Needless to say for a team that’s only played in the fall a couple of years, this is the farthest Briarcliff girls soccer has ever gone. Last year they lost in the opening round of states.
For those planning to make the trip to Cortland tonight or tomorrow, note that Saturday’s game will NOT be at SUNY Cortland as originally scheduled. It’s now at Tompkins-Cortland CC, or TC3 as everybody around here calls it. SUNY is hosting a football game, even though Richie Leaf, the head of Section 1 officials who was here to watch the game, told me SUNY Cortland football lost something like 40-0 last week. I just pray the CC has a press box like SUNY. I went to field level for 15 minutes today for post-game interviews and felt like I was climbing Everest. Minus the glory. As my old friend Jamaican Joe said every 30 seconds, “It is sooo cold.” Except he used to say it at 45 degrees. Today was legitimately below freezing, with awful winds blowing snow in everyone’s faces. What a great day to play soccer!
Both games were closely contested. Greeley couldn’t take advantage of a few chances while its opponent did. I was surprised how universally the Quakers felt like they were the better team, and how Greece Arcadia was not the best team they’ve seen. I agree they were better, though not by a lot. Coach Erin Tracy said they were too relaxed. A couple others thought they might have been overconfident. One of the Arcadia players who had seen Greeley at a Thursday banquet said they looked too sure of themselves. Hard to blame them. Greeley was a great team. I’ll have a retrospective on them in a day or two once things settle.
As for Briarcliff, the Bears finally played a close game. Livonia, the defending Class B state champ, had opportunities to take a first-half lead. The Bears started amping up the pressure after halftime. Even though the only goal of the game was an own-goal, it happened because they kept the ball near Livonia’s net for a long sequence until a Bulldog defender made a mistake. As I emphasize in my story, it was much more the kind of win I saw from the 2006 Bears, not the 2007 Bears. Good for them adapting to the opponent and the horrendous weather. At this stage, mental toughness is a big part of the game.
As they were winning the other B semifinal was going into OT. It came down to penalty kicks, where Marcellus of Section 3 prevailed 3-0. Marcellus won state titles in 2004 and 2005. From the little I saw of them, Briarcliff should be considered the favorite.
This entry was posted
on Friday, November 16th, 2007 at 4:58 pm by Jake Thomases.
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the greeley girls were not “too sure of themselves” at all. they were the only normal team at the banquet. They have a great time with eachother and had a terrific ride. No one on the team is cocky and no one is a show-off. they are down-to-earth girls who made history at HOrace Greeley High School and that’s all that matters.
The Greeley coach should be ashamed of herself!!
Her postgame comments lacked class and sportsmanship. YOu could tell this team has not been at this level before.
They clearly did not know how to conduct themselves after the game. When you lose 3-1, you are NOT the better team.
The other team has a girl going to UCONN, is she no good?
Greeley nice season and all but get some CLASS, starting with you COACH Tracy!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Arcadia is STATE CHAMPS, are they still not as good as you GREELY?
What a joke you guys were!!! NO CLASS
max,
North Rockland, JJEF and Monroe Woodbury are all better teams than Greece. It isn’t even a close call…and since you were not at all four of these games, you should just crawl back into your hole at Clarkstown North (the apex of girls high school soccer that it is) and try to make your own team and coach better. If CNHS had Coach Tracy, they might actually have a winning record. Oh yeah…your prior excuse for the pathetic girls program was that you should still be combined with Clark South. Well, here’s a news flash for you—Clark North and Clark South combined wouldn’t even be a .500 team. Get real and get sober.
Wow, Section I does not look good when coaches and parents act this way. When you lose, you tip your cap to your opponent!!!!
Horace Greeley you look very silly, you finished in the Final Four. Why not lose with dignity. I was at the Sectional Final, and the Final Four.
Greece Arcadia was also playing in the cold, and they put in 3 goals to your one. If you are better then a team you dont conceded 3 goals. That is equivalent to a 35-14 football score and saying the team with 14 was better.
Is North Rockland better then you? you beat them 3-1????
YOU LOST, GREECE ARCADIA STATE CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!
When you lose 3-1 it is obvious who is the better team. Greeley needs a class in Sportmanship.
Congratulations to the Briarcliff Bears, a team Section 1 can be proud of.
Good Luck Byram Hills
There is nothing classless about a coach believing that her team is better than the team which beat them…or thinking that her team should have won….or admitting that to the reporter. Coaches are competitors, just like the players are. There is no question that Greece was the better team yesterday. That doesn’t mean that Coach Tracy can’t believe (or say) that she still thinks that Greeley is better than Greece.
In the meantime, despite the coach’s quote in the paper, the Greeley coaches, players and fans were totally respectful after the game and at the post-game ceremony. How can you possibly take one or two quotes from a newspaper article, spoken after a tough loss, and claim that Greeley is classless?
It’s easy to jump on the Hate Greeley/Anti Chappaqua bandwagon. It happens all the time. But don’t try to take this team down—the girls had a fantastic year, are totally respectful and have a tremendous amount to be proud of.
Not accourding to the blog, where the girls told Jake that the players thought they were overconfident and the Athena player said at the banquet the Greeley girls were too sure of themselves.
Stating that several teams are better then the team you just lost too is to lack CLASS. If you have NOTHINg nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Greeley Coach= NO CLASS
Jake
What is your background in Soccer? How do you say a team that loses 3-1 is better then the team that beat them?
Hardly makes sense.
I played HS and college and coach HS, I love when teams act like goals don’t mean much. I laugh when I hear a team say, we “dominated, but just couldn’t capitalize”. Scoring goals is the single most important aspect of soccer. To let a team score 3 times against you is BAD defense.
What girls on Horace Greeley are going to UCONN?
Arcadia has a girl going there, so obviously they have some really talented players.
Oh yeah, plus they were leading you 3-0, which in soccer is a romp!!!!!!
Greeley has a player citing 3 teams they played that are better then Arcadia (NY STATE Champs), whats the point iof that?? BAD SPORTSMANSHIP,
You got beat 3-1, were down 3-0, NEVER in the game!!
greeley you lost..face itt..Arcadia STATE CHAMPS!!
and what are you trying to say about clark. north and clark. south..no one ever said anything about them..nor were they involved with this..leave the girls alone.
Greeley has to learn with dignity!
Call Greeley what you want but they aren’t classless. They shook hands after the game, took their runner-up trophies, didn’t whine to officials. Nothing like that. They just thought they were the better team. They way they said it, it wasn’t meant as a slight to Arcadia. It was more that they were kicking themselves.
Remember when Stephon Marbury called himself the best point guard in the NBA? Everybody still gets on his case about how supposedly arrogant he is. But as my friend Sid pointed out, every athlete thinks he or she is the best. They have to to be great. Call it cocky, but the hardest competitors think they should win every time. And if that’s the way Greeley feels, I’m glad they said it.
Certain things you dont do after losing, and one is say we were better. Another thing which is worse is to INSULT the team by rattling off a bunch of teams who are better then the team you just lost too!! UNNECCESARY
WHy did they say JJ was better and Monroe was better, just tacky and lacking class!!
Learn to lose with grace! Sore losers
Jake,
Are you serious, they totally meant to slight Arcadia. They said at the top of the story YOU wrote, that several teams they played were better then Greece Arcadia. If that’s not a sour grapes comment I don’t know what is. Total Disrespect to the STATE CHAMPS.
Did Blind Brook say such things when they lost? Did New Ro football ever say that after losing? Winners don’t say such things!!
The Greeley coach is real classy! I guess the Chappaqua address only goes so far. Well, she (and John Jay and Monroe Woodbury) can stop by the Greece Arcadia trophy case to see the state championship cup. (The really impressive thing is that Arcadia is a much smaller school than C-NS, Greeley, John Jay and Monroe-Woodbury.)
This appeared on Syracuse.com
My wife, Erin Tracy is a totally devoted coach. It’s that devotion that caused her to be misinterpreted.I know I am biased of course but I am a coach myself. It is a shame that her quote was taken out of context. I know what she meant was the reason Greeley couldn’t play their game was due to Greece being so great. It didn’t come off that way. It is especially hard to give a quote 10 minutes after you lost and are watching the players you love cry. Think of the whole situation. Greece was better that day, she was proud to lose to such a fine team she just wanted it for her kids so much she didn’t say it right. Let’s not turn this into a soap opera, Greece deserves it. Greeley went the farthest than ever. Let the kids enjoy their awesome experience and accomplishments as athletes. There were no sour grapes. These quotes look juicy in the papers but I can assure you from being married to this awesome giving coach she only wants what is best for the kids from either team.
Understandable, just was weird hearing the kid rattling off a list of teams who were better. Didnt sound nice
But I can understand, things come out differently right after a defeat.
In the future, Coach should avoid talking to the media right after a loss. Words matter
I am glad that Michael Tracy set the record straight about Coach Tracy. Those of us who have known her knew exactly what she meant – and that she would never in any way disrespect another team or its players!!
Just to get the “facts” straight – Max was incorrect in his/her (?) previous blog entry…. Greece-Arcadia was not a “much smallerâ€? school than John Jay (East Fishkill), C-NS, Greeley and Monroe-Woodbury. In fact it is Greeley that was the SMALLEST school of the ones he mentioned…Greeley has 1341 students…. and that G-A was in fact slightly larger (1365 students)…the truth is that it really is impressive that Greeley was the smallest of the schools competing in the Class AA final four, the Regional Championship and the Section 1 Championship!
What I posted was from Syracuse.com, Greeley and Arcadia are the same size, Arcadia has like 6 more girls in the school.
However, the girl quoted at the top of the article and the coach take a hit for postgame comments.
To belittle your opponent after they beat you is not what winners do. Yes I know greeley is not used to winning, but geeze common sense people. You don’t diss a team that beat you and say 3 previous teams you beat are better then them. JUST NOT RIGHT, reeks of sour grapes. If it was just one comment ok, but it was the coach and the player to start the article in the RJN.
Trailing 3-0 is taking a beating, getting crushed. No other way around it, ball control means nothing at that point. YOu got whooped, take it like a champ not CHUMP.
YOu were down 3-0 and lost 3-1, thats a butt kicking, just accept it, and next time say, “hey we tried our hardest but came up short” DONT knock your opponent, its cheap and below the belt.
I’m not from Greeley, nor was I at the game. However, it’s important to remember that the players are teenagers. For many of them, it’s the first time they’ve ever been interviewed. They are not media saavy and may not be having their most articulate moment right after losing a game. Professional athletes, politicians, and other adults who are frequently in the spotlight often say foolish things in public. Let’s cut a bunch of disappointed teenage girls some slack!
My daughter played for MW . I thought we were a much better
team than Greely. Our passing and ball skills were by far superior. But guess what? we lost. Greeley wanted it just a little more and won 1-0. Coulda ,shoulda ,woulda! Greeley got beat and badly by Arcadia . Hats off to Arcadia
John Jay was better then Greeley and so was Monroe Woodbury!!
Greeley tied JJ and advanced on PKS, still goes down as a TIE people
and then lucky against MW
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