By Mike Zummo
Two players did most of the damage.
Red Hook eighth-grade Ani Safaryan and junior Grace Hennig scored two goals each as the Red Raiders defeated the Newburgh Free Academy girls’ soccer team, 5-1, on Saturday night at Academy Field.
“The score was not indicative of how well we played,” Newburgh coach Dave Doulin said. “We made a couple of simple mistakes and you can’t make mistakes against them.”
Safaryan broke the 1-1 tie when she dribbled the ball up the field and outraced the Newburgh defense, and sent a shot past goalkeeper Melissa Ortiz-Cintron to give Red Hook a 2-1 lead in the 25th minute.
Five minutes later, Safaryan tacked on another goal about five minutes later.
Hennig scored the first of her two goals in the 32nd minute to give Red Hook (11-0-0) a 4-1 lead at halftime.
Hennig scored her second goal in the 54th minute off an assist from Grace Berardi.
Ortiz-Cintron finished the game with six saves.
“I thought our goalkeeper and defense were strong,” Doulin said. “That team’s been scoring a ton of goals all year long. They scored double digits a few times. I told the girls, we’re not happy giving up five goals, but we played really well.”
The Goldbacks (4-7-0) got their only goal from eighth-grader Marina Parodo off an assist from
Sarai Rodriguez to tie the game.
There were other opportunities.
Wendy Guerra nearly cut Red Hook’s lead to 4-2 in the 38th minute, but Red Hook goalkeeper Morgan Tompkins deflected the ball over the crossbar.
Sierra Ramirez corralled a cross in the box in the 56th minute, but her shot went wide to the left, and about five minutes later, Parodo had a shot go off the crossbar.
“We created some good opportunities,” Doulin said. “They’re a really good team. They’re 11-0 now for a reason, and they’re beating teams all over. There’s no shame in losing to them.”
Newburgh will return to the field on Thursday to host Pine Bush, to begin their final stretch of the season.
“We’ve got five games left and we have to win a couple to qualify for sections,” Doulin said. “That’s what’s important moving forward.”