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Will North Spartans Down Cross-town Rival Will South

The Williamsville North Field Hockey team sets a list of goals every time they take the field.

During halftime of Wednesday afternoon’s tilt with rival Williamsville South, senior Lauren Rabinowitz was asked to be more patient while passing and to communicate with her teammates on the field.

“(Williamsville) South was intercepting my passes (in the first half),” Rabinowitz said. “I needed to take a couple of seconds to look up and really get it to my player.”

While working on sending better passes of her own in the second half, Rabinowitz’s teammates returned the favor which she in turn cashed in for two goals as the Spartans defeated the Billies, 4-1, in non-league Section VI Field Hockey action.

“They worked hard,” Williamsville North coach Jessie Rys said. “The girls stayed together as a team. Everyone played an important role.”

Will North got on the board early as eighth-grader Molly Martin found junior Erin Roland, who ripped a shot from 20 yards away for the goal just two minutes into the game.

The Spartans nearly scored again when Erin’s sister, Emma, had a breakaway but South’s Elisabeth Sidorski knocked the ball away just inches before crossing the goal line.

About 10 minutes later, senior Jenna Piotrowski grabbed a rebound and put it home to give Will North a 2-0 lead.

With just over a minute left in the half, Sidorski received a penalty stroke opportunity and converted. Her shot, which slipped in off the left post, cut the South deficit to 2-1 at the half.

The Billies carried momentum from the goal into the second half keeping the ball in the North zone for the first couple minutes. However, Will South couldn’t convert on any of their chances.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” Williamsville South coach Mary Ferenczy said, “but I feel our squad battled well and we know what we need to work on.”

Piotrowski found Rabinowitz, who quickly slapped it in for her first goal with under 20 minutes left. Rabinowitz scored the game’s final goal on a shot to the bottom right corner of the net with 11:09 left in the game.

“She’s a strong and energetic player that gets everyone else excited,” Rys said of Rabinowitz. “She’s a leader.”

Piotrowski finished with a goal and two assists while Erin Rolland had a goal and an assist. Senior Jordan Cooper also had an assist. Emma Rolland, who had an assist Wednesday, has led the way so far this season with seven goals and three assists. Senior Samantha Mallare had a strong showing in net for the Spartans.

Williamsville South, which falls to 3-1 (2-0 ECIC II), hosts Orchard Park on Friday at 4:45 p.m.

“We’re a whole new squad so we’re still trying to put the pieces together,” Ferenczy said. “We had a lot of individuals carrying the ball so we need to focus on team play.”

The Spartans improve to 3-0 (0-0 ECIC I) this season and have a quick turnaround as they face their other crosstown rival, Williamsville East, on Thursday for a 5 p.m. faceoff.

“It feels good being with a lot of the same teammates,” Rabinowitz said. “We’ve been learning how our new players play. Once we start playing more as a team together we can really push the ball up.”

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