Rieber's header wins it for Jericho

Harrison Rieber was more than 30 yards away but it didn't matter, he was in the perfect spot. That's because Zach Cohen was throwing in the ball for Jericho and he can reach the net from nearly midfield.

Cohen said his ability to catapult the ball great distances is because both his shoulders are "double jointed."

The result is "a big whip on the ball coming forward," Cohen said.

Cohen heaved the ball from the left sideline into the 18-yard box where Rieber had gotten free from his defender to head the ball in for the game's only goal as Jericho defeated Garden City, 1-0, in Nassau Conference IV-A boys soccer Thursday afternoon.

"I saw space in the middle in the 18-yard box," Rieber said. "I cleared the other player that was in my area. I got position in front of the player and flicked it right onto net. It went right through the goalie's hands."

Rieber's goal, his first of the season, came with 18:59 left in the first half and capped a dominant first 21 minutes of play by Jericho (4-2-2).

The Jayhawks planned to come out firing against the Trojans and avoid falling behind like they did in the Sept. 20 game between the teams. Garden City won that meeting, 2-1.

SEE PHOTOSJericho 1, Garden City 0

"They dominated us in the first half and we dominated in the second half," Jericho coach Dani Braga said of the Sept. 20 game. "We wanted to continue playing our game today as we did the second half against them."

Garden City played much more inspired in the second half but failed to challenge Jericho's Ari Lewis, who made eight saves in his second straight shutout in the misty weather conditions.

James Pyatsky made four saves for Garden City (3-3-2).

The victory gave Jericho sole possession of second place in the very competitive Conference IV-A with just two games left in the regular season.

"Going into the playoffs we need to get on a roll," Braga said. "This is the first step towards it."