On Sept. 3, two crosstown rivals squared off in the season-opener, as Bronxville and Eastchester took the pitch at Eastchester High School to battle for the coveted Eastchester Cup. When the dust had settled, it was the Broncos who broke through, downing the Eagles 1-0 on the strength of a goal from Lily Jebejian to earn their first win of the fall.

]Although Bronxville came into the game as the defending Lower Westchester Small School champions, the Eagles managed to control the pace for much of the first half, stymieing the Broncos’ potent attack and maintaining possession for long chunks of time. 

“[Eastchester] came out strong, aggressive and they outplayed us in the first half,” said Bronxville coach Don Cupertino. “We weren’t making the passes, weren’t making the runs, so we talked about it, changed a few things, and then Lilly’s goal in the second was just amazing.”

The goal to which Cupertino was referring was a blast off the foot of Section I’s 2020 scoring leader, that came just five minutes into the second half. As one of the premier threats in the area, Cupertino knew that it was only a time before Jebejian—and the Broncos—broke through. 

“They were doubling Lily as soon as she got the ball, you can stop her one, two, three, four, five times,” Cupertino said. “But that sixth time, she’s gonna get loose and hit one of those cannons. Nobody is going to save that one.”

Jebejian said that the goal helped the Broncos settle in for the remainder of regulation and play with more confidence as they held off Eastchester’s comeback attempts.

“We had played a really hard first half so we wanted to come out and score quickly in the second,” she said. “And I think getting that goal relatively early on kind of set the mentality for the rest of the way.”

Of course, added Jebejian, the Broncos aren’t in a position to win the game if not for the stellar defensive effort by the defense, which was spearheaded by an eight-save performance from Milly Koenig. Koenig’s Eastchester counterpart, Sofia Kolndreu, had five. 

“Milly is an amazing player and she saved us so many times,” said Jebejian. “She’s consistent and keeping it scoreless when we weren’t having our best half was a win for us.”

With the win, the Broncos will have a break in action until Sept. 10, when they host Pleasantville in a rematch of last year’s small-school title game. The Broncos and Panthers have squared off in either the sectional or regional championship in each of the past three years, and Cupertino said that his team will need to tighten some things up as the season heats up.

“We’re going to work on some deficiencies and we’re still working on who’s going to play where,” he said. “We have some new faces, we have a big team, and we still haven’t worked all of that out yet.”

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