The best week of the regular season continued today with a pairof rivals in Suffern and Clarkstown South squaring off at Suffern Middle School’s new grass-turf field.

Suffern, which had been in a 1-4-1 stretch, snapped out of it with a 4-1 victory as Cara Eichenberger had a goal and three assists. Amanda Lambert, Ann Marie Aviles and Jenny Califano also scored Suffern goals. Nichelle Seymour had Clarkstown South’s goal on a beautiful pass from Kylie Armstrong.

Eichenberger set up Lambert, Aviles and Califano. Lambert opened the scoring on a great play by Eichenberg, also known as ‘Little Eich’ tro her teammates. Eichenberger came racing down the right wing and appeared to be losing the ball over the end line, but she controlled it and then smacked the ball into the circle where Lambert got her stick on it.

Suffern would take that 1-0 lead into halftime thanks to its penalty-corner defense of Rebecca Olsen, Erin Gumbs, Sara Wilson and Lambert thwarted five South penalty corners in the final 2:38 of the half.

Aviles doubled Suffern’s lead to 2-0 at the four-minute mark, but Clarkstown South would generate four more corners, only to have Suffern’s Fab Four stop them yet again.

South halved the lead at 14:20 of the second half as Armstrong carried down field and centered it to Seymour, who swept it home.

Califano answered two minutes later. However, on the play, as she was rushing back on defense, South’s Yazmin Seymour dropped to the ground and attempted to grab her calf. She was in intense pain, prompting her concerned father to rush out on the field. Yazmin was helped up by her dad and South coach Jordan Turner. Tony, the male official, (who I have known for quite some time and I still can’t remember his last name) alerted me that Yazmin Seymour had a cramp in her calf and that she was okay. That was good to hear.

A few observations from this game. First of all, you will hard-pressed to find a better defensive duo, when it comes to working together, than Olsen and Gumbs. They are a talented pair. Now I know why Suffern coach Bernadette Gannon refers to them as “The Wall.”

Suffern forward Staci Faye and midfielder Danielle Napoli also had fine games. This is the second time I’ve seen Suffern and both times, Faye and Napoli play their positions so well, that they can be overlooked.

Suffern will host North Rockland on Friday, 5 p.m. at Suffern Middle School.

Clarkstown South’s wing tandem of Armstrong and Nichelle Seymour were impressive. They are quick as lightning and combined on the beautiful goal.

Center back Erin McCorry had a very good game, stepping up to intercept passes or take the ball away and lead the defense. Coach Turner told me Tuesday night to keep on eye on freshman Deirdre O’Neill, his center midfielder. He told me O’Neill showed alot or promise. He was right. O’Neill was poised and was in the middle of everything.

Faces in the crowd: I know we did this feature during our Empire State Games coverage last summer, but I wanted to throw this out.

Former Suffern field hockey coach Sue Delaney stopped by to catch a few minutes of the game. Delaney retired from field hockey following the 2003 sesason (if I remember correctly) to be with her sons.

Former wrestling coach and Section 1 wrestling Hall of Famer Mickey DeSimone was a fan. He was later joined by his lovely wife, Mrs. DeSimone (once again, I have known Mrs. DeSimone for quite some time and I still can’t remember her first name. I apologize Mrs. DeSimone. This happens to me alot since I turned 40 a few years back.)

I thought I saw Suffern AD Bob Buono walking back and forth between the field hockey game and football game (not sure if it was modified or freshmen football).

Current Suffern wrestling coach and physical education teacher Chris Matteotti was at the football game in a coaching capacity.

Former Suffern wrestling standout Bryan Mistretta was tossing a football with a bunch of little guys. Mistretta is still an imposing figure, just like he was when he was piling up pins during his career for DeSimone.