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VALHALLA, N.Y. Valhalla High School soccer coach Sandro Prosperino was worried that his team would come out flat against Dobbs Ferry on Monday.
The Vikings (3-0) were fresh off winning the Mount Pleasant Cup during the weekend and were off to a 2-0 start. Fortunately, his team eased his anxiety and then some with a 3-1 win against the Eagles.
The fear was that there was going to be a big letdown, Prosperino said. The fear was that we were going to come and (after) back-to-back games, expend a lot of energy and that there was going to be a letdown. But our guys really turned it up. Actually, this was our best game of the season so far.
Dobbs Ferry (0-2) showed some life midway through the second half when the Eagles tied the game at 1-1. But Valhalla answered back within minutes to retake the lead and then scored again to put the game away.
Prosperino said Dobbs Ferrys tying goal was a turning point in the game.
At that point, its easy to get down, and weve always talked about trying to take advantage of another team now being high and sort of feeling good about themselves, Prosperino said. So, our boys came out and took advantage of that, which is good.
Senior Joseph Lovecchio, MVP of the Mount Pleasant Cup, said the momentum from the weekend tournament aided the Vikings on the field Monday.
It was definitely a big factor, but we were also very tired coming in, Lovecchio said. We definitely had to play our hardest, and now we get a couple days rest.
Lovecchio also hoped that Mondays win would propel the Vikings through the next part of the schedule.
This win definitely was meaningful, showing that we could come off a huge high coming down to a normal game, Lovecchio said. I think well just go on from here.
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