By Ted Waddell
GLEY SPEY — Eldred Central School’s sports events this autumn will be held at the Brookwood Camps due to an extensive construction/renovation project at the school.
Brookwood Camps, which is near Glen Spey, consists of 160 acres of woodlands, lakes, steams and several athletic fields. Each June, the facility hosts Jay Fiedler’s Prime Time Football Skills Camp for high school players. Fiedler was a quarterback for six National Football League teams during his 12-year career.
Last Thursday afternoon, the camp was the site of a non-league girls’ soccer game between the Eldred Lady Yellowjackets and the visiting S.S. Seward Lady Spartans.
Seward broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of goals in the second half to record a 3-1 victory.
Seward improved its record to 1-0 on the season, while Eldred fell to 1-1.
The Lady Spartans opened the scoring just 2:49 into the first half as Gladys Loyas beat an Eldred defender around the left side of the goal and ripped a post shot into the net.
A few ticks of the clock later, Eldred’s Heather Ouellette tied the match at 1-1 on a direct kick at the top of the goal box.
In the first half, the Lady Yellowjackets played a fired up game of soccer on both ends of the field. But in the second 40 minutes of play, they seemed to slow down a bit as the factors of heat and conditioning started to take their toll.
Early in the second half, Caitlin Lemire scored what proved to be the winning goal for the Lady Spartans with a header off a corner from Kristen Ludecker.
Loyas added another goal later in the half to complete the scoring.
“I was very pleased with their passing, shots on goal and communication in the first half,” said Eldred Coach Kelly Robertson, who is in her second-year of leading the team. “The same as last year, we’re working on conditioning. We want to continue in the second half as strong as we are in the first half.”
Although pleased to begin the season with a win, Seward Coach Joe DiMattina was not thrilled with his squad’s overall performance.
“To be honest with you, I’m not too happy about it,” he said. “We didn’t play as a team, and we didn’t [focus on] our combination shots. The girls were trying to take too much one-on-one, not working on their passing and angles.
“Eldred played us physically, and we just kind of backed off,” DiMattina added.