N  I  A  G  A  R  A    G  A Z  E  T  T  E

Grand Island rolls past Starpoint, 7-0

GRAND ISLAND — Grand Island’s Jessica Remmes stole the show Wednesday afternoon as the top-seeded Vikings downed the fourth-seeded Starpoint 7-0 in a Section VI Class A girls soccer semifinal.

Remmes added to her school-record goal total by netting four goals in the blowout victory. She also had two assists on the day.

Remmes tallied the final three scores of the first half to give Grand Island (19-1-1) a 6-0 lead at halftime.

“There was a some competition out there for awhile, but after we scored a few goals, they slowed down,” said GI forward Alicia Fisher.

Viking head coach Dave Bowman says that if his team shows up ready to play, they can play with anybody.

“If we show up, we can play with any team,” he said. “We just have to play within our system like we’ve been telling them the last few weeks. We just took charge out there today.”

Grand Island opened the flood gates early in the first half when midfielder Heather Buzzelli hit the upper right-hand corner of the net to give GI the early lead.

Then Alicia Fisher and Megan Denbeste scored within two minutes of each other as the barrage of goals began. Denbeste also had two assists with Fisher adding one.

Within the last 20 minutes of the first half, Remmes put the ball past Starpoint goalkeeper Megan Mangold three times, including a beautifully placed lob from just inside midfield that was over the head and out of the reach of Mangold.

Remmes capped off both her tremendous day and the Vikings scoring with a shot off of her left foot that found the back of the net just two minutes into the second half.

Starpoint offensive powers Mindy Wendt and Lindley Zimmerman were taken out of their game by the stout GI defense that enabled goalie Allie Weiser to earn yet another shutout.

“We played pretty hard but it was tough to play with the lineup changes we had,” Zimmerman said.

Starpoint’s junior sweeper, Sarah Weldon was inactive, which forced the Lady Spartans to rearrange their lineup.

Despite the disappointing loss, Zimmerman, a senior, said that it was a great year for her and the Spartans.

“Being 18-3 was a good way to end our career.”

While Starpoint’s athletes prepare for the winter sports season, the Vikings will began to get ready for their showdown with the No. 1-ranked large school in Western New York, Williamsville East (19-0-2) at 5 p.m. Saturday at North Tonawanda High School.

“We’ve been looking forward to playing them ever since they have been ranked higher than us,” Bowman said.