By MIKE ROSE
SPENCERPORT, NY — It is difficult to describe just how dominant the Spencerport Rangers’ girls’ soccer program has become but it is evident in that winning is simply the expectation for this group every single time they step on the field. When you haven’t lost a regulation game in 743 days it’s hard to expect anything less. It also helps to have arguably the most lethal offensive combination in all of New York State upfront. On Friday night, Lindsay Lenhard and Emily Peacock starred again to help propel the Rangers past Gates Chili, 6-0.
“We’ve been playing together for three years and we’re best friends so I really do think every time she succeeds I’m always there for her and anytime I succeed she’s the first one to be there to high-five me and tell me I did a great job,” Lenhard said of her connection with Peacock. “It doesn’t matter who puts it in the back of the net as long as it gets there.”
For Spencerport’s dynamic duo, the ball got to the back of the net plenty. It began with Peacock sending a cross into the box that slipped through the hands of Spartans’ goalie Cassaundra Carpenter and found Lenhard all alone in front of a vacant goal to make it 1-0 after less than four minutes of game action. The roles would reverse for the second goal as Lenhard would connect with Peacock to make it a 2-0 lead heading into halftime. Despite controlling nearly all of the possession in the first half Spencerport head coach Jamie Schneider knew his team could find another gear.
“Right off the start it was good to win the midfield and establish but to create opportunities is another thing,” Schneider said. “It took us a little while to create those opportunities and finish them. Fortunately, we had two in the first half but in the second half we really came through, that was an impressive job in the second half.”
The floodgates opened in the final forty minutes as Peacock and Lenhard continued to rack up goals. Peacock would strike three times in the second half while Lenhard would add a marker as well. Peacock ended the night with four goals and an assist while Lenhard racked up two goals and three assists. Overall, Peacock has now scored 15 goals with six assists, while Lenhard has tallied 11 goals and 11 assists.
“They’re good individually. A lot of skill, a lot of athleticism and good thoughts. When you put them together with their chemistry they can find each other. They’re good off the ball, it’s impressive what they can do together,” Schnieder said of Peacock and Lenhard.
While winning has become the norm at Spencerport, that doesn’t mean mean the pressure his team is under to keep rolling isn’t present for Scnieder.
“You do (think about it), It’s tough, I think the team handles it very well,” Schneider said of the pressure his team faces. “We found that you gotta just go through the process. Especially in a final what we’ve learned is a lot of teams play the emotion. For our team, they’re really disciplined, high-character kids that ‘let’s worry about the content of the game.’ What is going to help us get that result. If we put too much in our heads that we haven’t lost here, we always get this result, then it could come back to haunt us because it is a lot of pressure. They do a great job of just focusing on the process. It is remarkable and it takes a lot of character to have that type of consistency game in and game out so it’s fun to be them be so successful.”
Spencerport (6-0-1) will look to continue its winning ways when they visit Canandaigua on Tuesday night. Gates Chili (2-3-2) will also visit the Canadaigua next, taking on the Gray Wolves on Thursday night.
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