Scarsdale Soccer’s Section Final Run Signals a Change in Outlook
(Pictured above: The Raiders players and coaches lined up ahead of their narrow final defeat against Mamaroneck on October 30th)
For the past decade, Scarsdale’s Varsity Boys’ Soccer Team has been “just another team” in Section 1, Class AA. They were not known as “awful,” but the term “powerhouse” did not come to mind either. They would typically start the season slowly, end the regular season with a flurry of good results, and then be in the middle of the pack in terms of playoff seeding, before ultimately being tossed out in the early rounds.
Scarsdale was not bad, but they were “just another team” to their rivals, capable of strong performances, yet not too daunting to come up against. They were “just another team” at school as well, with people sometimes mentioning the scores but still living in the shadows of the football team. Even to the team themselves, they were “just another team,” always craning their neck to see the upper echelons of Section 1’s soccer hierarchy.
This season was a season a long time in the making. This season confirmed that Scarsdale is no longer “just another team,” and that will be the case for years to come. This season showed the Raiders are feared opponent.
Scarsdale entered the playoffs as the number three seed, finishing the season with a remarkable 11-2-2 record. Their placement in the postseason was up in the air until the final match, when an impressive 2-1 Senior Day victory over Mamaroneck earned the Raiders the third seed.
A 4-1 Round of 16 victory over Ketcham and 3-0 brush aside of North Rockland in the quarterfinals set Scarsdale up with a semi-final clash against Arlington. The first time Scarsdale visited the Admirals (early in the regular season), the hosts won 2-1. Scarsdale coach Marcos Monteagudo told his team that if they needed to go back north in the playoffs to play Arlington again, then Scarsdale should not be scared.
In one of the most convincing performances of the season for any team in any class of Section 1, Scarsdale eased by second-seed Arlington 3-0, with two remarkable solo goals from Lorenzo Galeano and Adrian Lim, as well as a composed finished (from a precise Eli Gelblum assist) from Nico Galeano proving to be the difference.
In the finals awaited Mamaroneck. Both sides had chances throughout the final on October 30 – with many members of the Ders’ Faithful making the long trip to Lakeland to support the team, suggesting Scarsdale soccer was getting the elite attention it deserved. Ultimately, a scrappy second-half goal from the Tigers proved to be the lone goal of the match.
Coming so agonizingly close to winning the section always has a bitter taste. Fortunately for the Raiders, the indications show that they will not need to wait for more than a decade for their next crack at winning the section championship. Even with 15 seniors graduating, the future is brighter than ever.
Five of the eleven starters for Scarsdale in the final were not seniors. Two are freshmen. Many other non-seniors made significant contributions this season as well. The Junior Varsity Team won every match they played, signaling there is a strong crop of underclassmen talent ready to be thrown right into the fray next season.
For the longest time, Scarsdale was “just another team.” This year, they were anything but that. Now that they made the section finals this season, there is a new baseline expectation. And, with a considerable amount of the core from this year’s team primed and ready to come back next season – as well as an injection of new talent – who knows how far the 2022 Scarsdale Boys’ Varsity Soccer team can go.
The bond within the team is firmer than ever. The desire to lift the championship plaque is stronger than ever. The hunger for revenge is louder than ever. The tools are most certainly there for Scarsdale to identify themselves as major section-championship-vying contenders for years to come.
Scarsdale sweeped by Arlington 3-0 to clinch a spot in the Section 1 Finals (October 27th)
