The James I. O’Neill Raiders’ performance last week was better, posting a pair of non-league wins at home.
The Raiders defeated Liberty, 7-1, on October 7 and then finished the week on Saturday night with a 9-0 win over Tri-Valley in a non-league boys’ soccer game at James I. O’Neill High school in Highland Falls.

The Raiders had been off to a good start, winning four of their first six games, but started to slide after their win over the Highland Huskies in the Jimmy Ranieri Tournament.

Since then, the Raiders had lost four straight games, including an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division IV loss to the Fallsburg Comets.

They also dropped non-league games to the Beacon Bulldogs, Dover Dragons and Webutuck before ending their four-game losing streak.

The Raiders got off to a fast start against the Bulldogs, scoring two goals in the first two minutes.
Johnny Nauta got the Raiders first goal, off an assist by Bryce Kenney. Joe Padula scored the next two giving the Raiders an early 3-0 lead. Padula’s first goal was assisted by Jacques Farlow and the second by Julio Melendez.

Bryce Kenney, Rylen Omino and Paul Furhiman added goals in the first half to give the Raiders a 6-0 lead in halftime.

O’Neill tacked on three more goals in the second half. Bryce Kenney scored his second goal of the game off an assist by Jonathan Garcia.

Then late in the game, the Raiders’ reserves got into the act as freshman Jack Fitzgerald and eighth-grader Ollie Buchheim added late goals to give O’Neill the win over winless Tri-Valley.

Kenney scored three goals and Ben Yankovich added two in the Raiders’ win over Liberty. Farlow and Robert Thompson added a goal each and Dave Osgood made three saves for the Raiders (6-6-0).
Jeh Abisair scored Liberty’s lone goal and Bryan Jimbo made eight saves.

The Raiders had an opportunity to clinch a berth in the Section 9 Class B tournament on Tuesday when they hosted the Comets. A win would guarantee them a 1-1 record in the division, which would give them an automatic berth.

The two teams last met on Sept. 24, a game the Comets won, 5-1. If the Raiders don’t win that game, they would need to win two of the next three games against Sullivan West, S.S. Seward and John S. Burke Catholic to finish with a .500 overall record and clinch a tournament berth.