Lady Vikings Keep Winning

Eliza Roach (1 assist) and Marisa Warren each scored twice as Nichols School cruised to a 5-1 win over Mt. St. Mary in a game that was played at Strauss-Truscutt Field on Tuesday.

With the victory, the Vikings improve to 13-1-1. Even though they own one of the best records in WNY the Vikings still find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the WNY top 10 rankings.

Roach said that while the team doesn’t obsess over rankings the fact that they have not been included to date is somewhat bothersome and serves as motivation.

“I think we’re trying our best to get into those rankings. Trying our best to win the league, go back to states,” said Eliza Roach. “So I personally use it as motivation to try and play better.”

Nichols head coach Larry Desautles, who is also stunned that St. Mary’s of Lancaster isn’t in the top 10 either, said he thinks part of the reason is that they play so many out of area schools in non league games and it weighs against them when teams are compared to each other.

The Thunder came out flat and the Vikings took full advantage of it. Nichols scored on the first shot of the game 21 seconds in when Roach fed a pass to Claire McGennis who chipped it in.

“I think the first goal was crucial just to make sure that we had a lead. Just to make sure we had some reins on the game. We had some control over the situation,” said Roach.

Roach scored her team’s third and fifth goals, while Camryn Warren set up both of her sister’s goals.

The biggest challenge for Nichols was to remain focused and not let any bad habits creep in as they prepare for Thursday’s game against Mount Mercy.

“I think we just knew going into it that even after we scored early we had to keep playing our hardest,” said Roach.

Remaining focused was an extra challenge because Nichols had a long weekend of no classes. So girls came into Tuesday out of their normal game day ritual of classes first.

When asked about his team’s focus coach Desautels smiled and said that the one bad habit his team has is some times they might be a litte too unselfish.

“Our team, they get along really well and they like playing together and it’s great because in the course of a game they try to move the ball, and we have a number of skilled players who see each other and make the passes and some times you wish they were just a little more selfish,” he said with a chuckle. “And that they would attack and not give up the ball when they’re 10 yards away. I get it, but again there has to be those hungry moments.”