By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The final outcome of Wednesday’s match from Erna Frank Field was secondary.
For this season, it’s a win every time Eastridge girls’ soccer takes the field in a varsity game.
Following a one-year absence, the Lancers continue their rebuild with the hopes of returning to the program’s success of less than a decade ago.
“It’s a learning curve right now,” said first-year head coach Robby Salisbury. “We have the skill. It’s the physicality part and the pace of play that’s kinda kicking our butt. Bright future ahead, just got to navigate these bumps with being as young as we are.”
Of the 16 student-athletes on the 2025 Eastridge roster, four are ninth graders and six more are sophomores.
That youth showed last night as the Lancers fell behind 4-nil less than 20 minutes into their match with Greece Athena.
“They’re a tough team,” Salisbury said of Athena. “There definitely was some nervousness in the locker room with what was going to happen. I think you saw what that nervousness does. Being so young, the toughness of the other team brings them down. At the end of the day, you tell them ‘We were out there. We played, and we did our thing.’ It’s going to be game by game.”
The current Eastridge squad played together last year on the JV level under Salisbury. They finished with a record of 12 wins and 3 losses. He points to the 2016 Eastridge girls’ team that won the only league title in program history under then-head coach, Marc Dall.
“It’s part of the reason I wanted to came back,” said the 2017 Eastridge graduate who was the starting goalkeeper for four years under Mike Friedel. “At the end of the day, we’re rebuilding. We want to get it back to what it was when I was in school. When we won our league.”
He has the blueprint. As a 9th and 10th grader on the Eastridge boys’ soccer team, he and his teammates endured back-to-back losing seasons before advancing to the sectional semifinals his final year.
On the hardwood, Salisbury was part of a 2-18 Eastridge boys’ basketball team his senior year. After graduation, he watched as the Lancers under head coach Dan Roser put together a program that won the 2020 Class A1 title.
“It’s relaying a message that it will take time and we’ll get there. But it’s not going to happen overnight.”
For now, it’s a matter of keeping to a plan from day to day.
“We are a dotted line,” Salisbury explained. “We’re there; then we’re not there. We’re there; then we’re not there. We need to be a line, a consistent line. Whether it’s thick or thin, whatever it is. We can’t have those nothing breaks. We got to be something. We can’t take those breaks, get discouraged and have nothing.
“Same goes with practice. We have a great practice, another great practice, a terrible practice then a great practice. We can’t go from great to terrible. We can go from great to good, good to average, but we can’t have that huge drop-off. We just got to have that consistency. It’s not going to be like this forever. They know it. They’re buying in which is great. It’s hard after playing a tough team like that.”
Late in Wednesday’s game, Angie Mangieri delivered a point blank shot from inside the 18-yard box. Athena keeper Jacklin Kozak made the save, but in that moment there was the possibility of accomplishment.
“We definitely celebrate the little wins, for sure,” Salisbury said. It’s building that confidence. That’s the shot we want. We can do it. We just got to do it more often.”
Haley Drake staked Athena to a three-goal lead with a natural hat trick, and the Trojans (1-0) went on to win, 9-0. Lauren Grasley, Alayna O’Brien, Riley Johnston, Alexis Drake, Jaden Ostrander and Peyton Drake also found the back of the net. Johnston added two assists. Grasley and Ostrander set up a goal apiece. Madison Feeney and Hannah Dill both had an assist.
Athena graduated 10 players from a team that lost Spencerport in the Class AA semifinals.
“These girls are connecting,” said head coach Sal Butera. “They love each other. They like to be around each other. They respect each other in the hallways. They’re great students. You got to be a great student before you become a good player.
Butera led the Eastridge program 2007-10.
“They’re young,” he said of the Lancers. “A game like today, it’s a good example for them. They understand the movement of the ball. They understand the balance of the team.”
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