The Newburgh girls’ soccer team set out on a road trip over the weekend, where it played a pair of tournament games at Niskayuna High School.

The first game for the Goldbacks on Saturday, September 9 was against Xaverian, a private school from Brooklyn.

Newburgh’s comeback fell just short, with a 2-1 loss to open the tournament.

While Xaverian scored the first two goals of the game, Marina Parodo cut Newburgh’s deficit in half. However, the Goldbacks weren’t able to find the equalizer.

“We played two really tough teams, and that tough competition is going to make us better for when we get to the league schedule,” said NFA coach Dave Doulin. “We had a tough game on Saturday against a good team from the city, and this team today [Sunday] is really good; we just played really well.”

Newburgh’s second game, on Sunday, September 10, was against Section 2’s Bethlehem.

The Goldbacks staved off the Eagles with a 1-0 victory, to split their two tournament games in the Capital Region.

“Today’s game was a lot better than yesterday,” senior midfielder Julia Leonard said of the game against Bethlehem. “I feel like we were in a better mindset today. We knew we had some tough competition again, and we came in ready and it showed.”

Riley Frederick scored the lone goal for Newburgh. After intercepting a Bethlehem pass, the junior forward brought it all the way home for a goal in the top corner of the net.

Newburgh’s defense was able to hold off Bethlehem’s last-minute attempts to even things up.

“I was hoping to get that 2-0 lead, for that cushion,” said junior defender Taylor Morrill, ”but we defended really well and came away with the win.”

“We really worked well in the midfield too,” Morrill added, “which was an improvement from yesterday.”

The pair of games brought a level of physicality that the Goldbacks saw as beneficial to prepare for the upcoming league games.

“We can feed off of that, when they’re bringing the energy and physicality,” Morrill said. 

“Our first league games this week,” added Leonard. “I think this trip really helped prepare us for the competition we’re going to face.”

Given the new classifications set up by NYSPHSAA this season, Newburgh is a member of the recently created AAA division. The Goldbacks will compete against Kingston, Middletown, Monroe-Woodbury and Pine Bush, in the classification for the largest schools.

Newburgh is now 1-2 to begin the season, all non-league contests. The Goldbacks played Kingston on Tuesday, September 12 in their home opener and will visit Pine Bush on Thursday, September 14 at 4 p.m.