Soccer Playoff Hopes On the Line for Riverview Raiders, Lady Raiders Don't Make It

In the past two weeks, the varsity soccer Lady Raiders have added one win, a tie and three losses to their record. Unfortunately, they didn't clinch a spot in their section playoffs.

On the boy's side, they picked up some more speed to keep them rolling into potential post-season play.

Although the Lady Raiders suffered a tough loss to Greensburg Central Catholic, they battled back against Geibel, defeating them 5-3. Roya Fashandi added three more goals to her season high while Victoria Tibbens tallied two goals on the match as well.

The Lady Raiders changed their formation for an important game against Jeanette on the following Monday. Due to weather conditions, the girl's were forced to play their home match at Mckinley Field, where they typically practice.

Fashandi dominated the sweeper position and Kym Garibay, who usually plays sweeper, moved up to forward. A couple of other minor changes were made, yet that was the biggest difference in the formation. Erin Lauff, a hard-worker and a key starting forward for the Lady Raiders was out for two games due to a head injury. Lauff returned early this week for the game against St. Joseph's.

Fashandi had the only goal of the game as she made a break on offense while Katie Flowers, the left back, covered for her on sweeper. Jeannette played a rough game as usual and suffered three yellow cards and two red cards. After double overtime, the playoff deal breaker ended in a tie.

The girl's suffered a 4-1 loss against Obama Academy last Thursday. Although the Lady Raiders played well, their defense didn't hold up as planned. Fashandi, again, had the only goal for the match.

The game against St. Joseph's on Monday was crucial to the Lady Raiders' playoff berth. However, their hope of going to playoffs ended after a loss. The Lady Raiders play Greensburg Central Catholic today at 3:45 pm.

As for the boy's side, their season has a couple more wins on the board with the help of nine goals in three games by Zach Lear. The boy's suffered a close loss to section competitor, St. Joseph's, 4-3, yet they bounced right back. Lear had two goals on the match and Cole Wilson tallied one as well.

They added a hefty win against Aquinas, 7-4, a muddy win against Obama, 1-0, and another shut out against Elderton, 6-0.

Lear had four goals in the Aquinas game in addition to single tallies by Wilson, Tyler Murphy, and Cole Quinio. Quinio also had four assists for the Aquinas match. Lear had the sole goal for the win against Obama and scored two goals in the Elderton game. Quinio had two goals and three assists on the Elderton match while Wilson and Jon Connelly each added one goal to the board as well. Jason Anthony and Zach Aber shared the shutout in goal.

The boys have three very important games coming up—all section matches. The boys faced off against Jeanette yesterday and won 7-1.

Tomorrow they will play West Shamokin, who is right below them in fifth for conference standings. They finish off their regular season with a home game against their rival, Springdale. If St. Joe's, Vincentian Academy and Springdale lose their upcoming matches, Riverview could still have a spot in the playoffs. Only time (and scores) will tell.

Stay tuned for a post-season wrap-up!