Saturday, October 12th, the FIT Tigers traveled to Mamaroneck High School to take on Monroe Express for the first time this season. With Tuesday's win inspiring the Tigers, they came prepared for another successful game. With kickoff being a lot later than they were used to, the coaching staff wanted to ensure that everyone was in the right head space for the game. Coach Bazi made it clear that every minute of the game was crucial to ensure their spot in the playoffs. Being so close to playoffs, the Tigers wanted to use these last few games as a way to solidify their starting lineup, with the help of Ava Mankoo and Christina Scafisi stepping up to play in net. They started the game with patience, and showed just as much confidence as they did in Tuesday's game. Working together as a team throughout the field, the Tigers connected passes throughout the defense, through to the midfield, all the way up to the forwards. It was this kind of teamwork that led to the first of many goals for the Tigers. Starting with Aubrey Bethon finishing the first goal from a deflection of one of the Monroe players. Goals such as this one are exactly why the Tigers need to always crash the net and be in the correct position. After this goal, the first half opened up an incredible amount of opportunities for the Tigers. The second goal came all the way from our back line. Domenica Romo passed the ball to our midfielder Morgan Smith who then laid the ball off to Gabrielle L'Insalata who find the back of the net. The three players displayed poise and control all the way up the field. L'Insalata had another two goals in the first half along with one goal from Haley Tarazona and Gabrielle D'Elia. At half time the score was 6-0. Starting the second half proved to be only a continuation of the first, with a final score of 11-0. L'Insalata had a record 15 shots and a total of six goals, Tarazona striking seven shots, scoring two goals along with Smith having seven shots, scoring one goal. Assists came from all over the field from our center backs Sarah Iannella and Mary-Addison Davis to our outside wing Kiara Brown. The Tigers advanced their winning streak to two.
Sunday, October 13th, the FIT Tigers returned to Kingsborough to play the Kingsborough Community College Waves. Coming off of now two wins, the Tiger were even more excited to play their last region game. Winning this game meant they were ensured a spot in the playoffs. A continuation of the previous game day discussion, Coach Bazi reiterated what this game meant for the rest of the season. The Tigers took to the field to perfect their play in their warm up drills, and wrapped up ready to continue their winning streak. The weather was exceptional, the fans were loud and excited, and the Tigers were ready to go. The Tigers started the game with tenacity. Thirty seconds into the game, the Tigers drilled home their first goal of the game. Bethon passed a crisp ball to D'Elia who then laid it off to L'Insalata, who hit the net. The next three minutes produced two more goals, with the Tigers now averaging a goal a minute. The second goal came from L'Insalata and the third was from Smith. These goals foreshadowed what was to come for the rest of the game. Although, within the first five minutes the Tigers were up 3-0 the coaching staff made sure to keep the Tigers switched on, as they know all too well what can happen in a split second. The Tiger's fourth goal was definitely picture worthy as Mankoo came bombing towards the net as a cross ripped through the box from D'Elia. Mankoo drilled a header into the back of the net. Even with an assistant referee with poor judgement, the Tigers were able to refine their play to finish the first half with five goals. The Tigers used half time to communicate their excitement to each other, and to the coaches. After discussing what worked and what didn't work, the Tigers were ready to begin the second half. Similar to the game played the day before, they continued their goal scoring to finish 11-0, again. L'Insalata netted five goals this game, setting a new record for FIT with most goals scored in one weekend by one player. To follow, Smith broke personal records, scoring five goals this game, and assisting many others. The Tigers, now go into a three-game winning streak.
Elated by these wins, the coaching staff is ready to go into this next week preparing for playoffs. With one more game to play this season, they want to be smart with their game plans, and improve the already strong chemistry to be even stronger. Come see the Tigers play the Union Owls at their home field, and bring the tissues- this will be the senior game for our six seniors, Kiara Brown, Sarah Iannella, Gabrielle L'Insalata, Domenica Romo, Haley Tarazona, and Paula Trujillo.
