Shorthanded Venice Soccer Loses

The girls soccer team lost starting goalkeeper Morgan Disanto to injury just 10 minutes into the game. As a result, it also lost star forward , who had to replace Disanto. Fairfax took full advantage Wednesday, beating the Gondoliers 3-1 in a crucial Western League game.

“Losing Morgan like that hurt the team in so many ways," Venice head coach said. "Obviously she’s a leader, so when the girls see her go down they start to play nervous. Also we had to shift our lineup around, and it just didn’t work for us today.”

The injury occurred when Disanto charged a Fairfax forward who was sprinting in for a shot. Disanto actually collided with her defender, , suffering a cut on her eyebrow. Disanto left the game and was taken to the emergency room for stitches.

Ortega took the goalkeeper’s shirt, and while her effort was valiant, her inexperience showed. On Fairfax’s first goal midway through the half, Ortega hesitated to charge after forward Jasmine Santos, who bounced a shot off of Ortega, then scored on the rebound for a 1-0 lead.

“Alyssa is the only one on the team who can back up Disanto so I had to go with her," Palma said. "Unfortunately, she’s also our best scorer, so by doing that, we lost a lot of our offensive fire power.”

Fairfax took the 1-0 lead into halftime, where Palma made some changes in his formation. He brought star midfielder from the defense to the forward position, and subbed in a couple of players. When asked after the game, Palma said the change was planned all along.

“I had a couple of players sit out the first half for disciplinary reasons after they didn’t show up to practice. So the plan was to put them in and move Daniel up to forward and use three forwards, though that changed when Alyssa had to play goal.”

Venice had a couple of chances to tie it up before the Lions put in what looked to be the clinching goal. Fairfax forward Brigitte Flores added to her team-high goal total with a beautiful shot from long distance that sailed over Ortega into the net.

Yet again, the loss of Disanto was magnified. Ortega is only 5’ 1” while Distanto stands 5’ 7”. It is very likely that Disanto would have been tall enough to reach the shot, It didn’t matter, the scoreboard now read 2-0 Fairfax.

“I hope that Morgan can get better, because now we only have one day to prepare for Palisades, who is far and away the leader of the league," Palma said. "If we aren’t healthy for that, it could be a long day for us."

In a desperate move to generate offense, Palma took Ortega out of goal and put in Vasquez.  However, the move didn't pay off, as the Lions tacked on yet another goal. After Vasquez’s clearance deflected off a Fairfax player, Tatiana Raskin controlled the rebound and shot it past Vasquez, making it 3-0 Lions.

Venice was finally able to get on the board when headed home a corner kick, but it was too little, too late, as the Gondoliers lost 3-1.

“We need to find an identity as a team," Palma said. "We still are struggling to replace all of the players we lost last year, and several of our players are uncomfortable at times in their position. It’s something we need to work on and fast."

Venice now must prepare for a juggernaut in Palisades on Friday. The Dolphins have allowed just four goals this year, while scoring an incredible 73. It will be a tall task for Palma and the Gondoliers, who host the Dolphins at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.