With the regular season rapidly approaching its conclusion and the all-important postseason on the horizon, it’s time for teams to raise their performance level and round into playoff form, as Greenwich Academy and Greenwich Country Day School’s varsity soccer teams are certainly doing.

The Gators and Tigers tested their soccer skills in an intense, highly competitive matchup on Oct. 26th at Offit Field and it was GA that made capitalized on more opportunities that came its way and improved its positioning for the upcoming FAA Tournament.

Scoring one goal in the first half, then adding a pair of tallies in the second, visiting Greenwich Academy earned an impressive 3-0 victory over Greenwich Country Day. With the win, GA improved its FAA record to 6-1-1.

“I was really happy with the goals we were able to put away,” Greenwich Academy coach Kate Sands after her team’s win versus GCDS. “We had three goal scorers, which was awesome.”

Greenwich Academy, which is 4-0-1 in its last five FAA games this fall, received one goal apiece sophomore Yardley Brunt, junior Tami Tobun and junior Juliet DeStefano, along with sensational goaltending from junior captain Lavely Corbin.

Greenwich Country Day School has a record of 2-3-1 in the FAA and is 5-4-1 on the season. The Tigers were paced defensively by junior Caitlyn Tsai, senior Devon Carella and sophomore Jaden Sutter.

“We’ve been really competitive this season,” Greenwich Country Day coach Neil Phillips said. “The second half was better with effort for our team.”

Greenwich Academy started mounting more pressure on GCDS midway through the first half, with DeStefano forcing a corner kick. Tsai cleared the ball out of harm’s way off a GA corner kick. Corbin then made a save for the visitors, keeping the game scoreless. With 14:06, the Gators scored the game’s first goal – the only goal they wound up needing.

Brunt scored on a header off a corner kick, giving Greenwich Academy a 1-0 first half lead.

“Juliet played a perfect ball in, so all I had to do was run on it and I didn’t see anyone in front of me, so I just jumped up for it and closed my eyes and when it went in, it was a good feeling,” Brunt said of her goal that gave GA a 1-0 edge.

With junior McKenna O’Neill aggressively moving the ball up the field, the host Tigers earned a corner kick during the latter portion of the opening half. Corbin registered a save on the ensuing corner kick, keeping the Gators in front by a goal.

Milligan recorded a pair of shots on goal late in the first half, which were saved by GCDS sophomore goalie Kate Taylor and the score remained 1-0 in favor of GA heading into halftime.

“I think it was a great game, we had a lot of players play and we had a lot of connection all around the field,” Milligan said. “We got a lot of great goals from a lot of different people.”

Paced by junior Katherine Higgs, senior Alex Piperno and senior Talia Bock defensively, GA went ahead 2-0 in the game’s 61st minute. Tobun angled her shot from approximately 35 yards out inside the left post, giving the Gators two-goal lead with 19:30 left to play.

“Juliette got it out wide, she’s really fast and I think she played it back to me, it’s something we talked about at halftime,” Tobun said of her goal. “So, it’s good that we were able to do that. I just shot it.”

DeStefano sealed the scoring by tallying with 13:45 remaining in the second half, giving Greenwich Academy a 3-0 advantage.

“We were playing without one of our senior captains (Maia Bostwick) who is a starting center midfielder,” Sands noted. “I thought we were able to dig deep and we played our game and moved the ball well. They were tough.”

Greenwich Academy is in second place in the FAA with a game still remaining against St. Luke’s School, so the Gators should receive a stellar seed in the eight-team FAA Tournament.

“Especially going into the FAA Tournament, goal differential is definitely a possibility, so getting multiple goals this game was really important for us,” Brunt said. “So, I’m really happy that we were able to both get the win and get multiple goals. We’re really excited for the playoffs.”

“I think we’ve had a lot of back-to-back games, so it’s been really tough, but we came out, we did what we needed to do,” Tobun said of GA’s win versus GCDS. “We played our hearts out and I think we all played really well and we tried our best.”

Greenwich Country Day is currently in seventh place in the FAA standings, but has remaining league games against King School, St. Luke’s and School of the Holy Child.

“We’re still trying to get in that top four spot, probably the fourth spot,” Phillips said. “As I said to the girls, I don’t want to just be happy getting fourth, I want to compete. That is the level if we are going to do anything in the playoffs we have to get to.”

Coach Phillips credited freshman Avery Schwartz and Rinad Louali, a freshman, for leading the Tigers’ overall play.

The FAA Soccer Tournament is scheduled to begin on Nov. 10th.

“It was a great way to show that going into playoffs we have a strong attack and it’s coming from everywhere on the field,” Milligan said of GA’s performance level against GCDS. “In the FAAs, just having great intensity from the beginning, putting in lots of shots and finishing our shots is what’s going to be key.”