By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
On the Eastridge girls soccer team’s senior night, Honeoye Falls-Lima sophomore Maria Karipidis was the star.
Karipidis scored two goals, the tone-setting first score of each half, as the Cougars defeated the Lancers 5-0 and concluded a perfect 10-0 regular season. The Cougars, who swept the season series with EI after topping them twice in less than three weeks, last completed an unblemished year in 2013.
HF-L snagged momentum early, when Karipidis’s boot from outside the 18-yard box beat Eastridge goalkeeper Maira Bulmahn high to give the Cougars the lead just over nine minutes into the match.
“She’s a great midfielder,” Cougars coach Chrissy Merrill said of Karipidis. “She does control things offensively, really starting our attack and creating opportunities for not only herself but her teammates, but she also does a great job hustling back. She really defends as well and just works all over the field. She’s definitely a nice asset to have and obviously the players around her contribute to her success as well.”
The Cougars were aggressive, forcing Bulmahn to make three saves in the first seven minutes and firing 14 shots- six on goal- for the game. Eastridge held firm defensively and kept it a one-goal game for almost 20 minutes, however, before HF-L senior Elise Lupisella scored her second goal of the season to double the advantage.
“We really kind of just had a little momentum after we put one in,” Merrill said. “And then it kept rolling. We really came to finish out our season, for the regular season, and the girls really wanted to finish on a good note. That was a nice way to cap off the season.”
Before the Cougars could get a halftime rest, they faced their only nervous moment of the game. Eastridge captain Sierra Manning, who picked up a yellow card five minutes before Lupisella scored, got loose on a breakaway but directed the shot straight into Cougar keeper Mari Spitz’s arms.
That chance was the closest HF-L came to surrendering its first goal since its 3-1 victory over the Lancers on Oct. 17, a six-game shutout streak.
The Cougars distanced themselves in the second half. Karipidis scored a second goal, her 13th of the 10-game regular season, with 33:55 remaining. Junior Abby Zollo extended the edge five minutes later with her fourth score of the year, followed five minutes later by defender Kailey Annesi’s second.
Spitz collected four saves in the Cougars’ eighth divisional victory, improving her save percentage to a shade under 97 percent.
HF-L is currently one of four undefeated teams in Monroe County alongside Hilton, Pittsford Mendon and Spencerport. A decisive win over a formidable Eastridge team (7-3) adds confidence entering sectional play.
“I think our one big challenge is we know that we have not faced all the tougher competitors that we typically do because of our schedule,” Merrill remarked. “We normally play a lot of the Class A teams that were cut from our schedule this year, so I think our biggest challenge is going to be stepping up our quality of play against those bigger and faster teams.
“We know we have a pretty talented and balanced team, but we’re going to need to take it to another level.”
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