Amity Goalie Zoie Reed
By PHIL BRODSKY
Orange Live Sports Writer
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Anyone who knows Amity girls soccer Coach Owen Quigley is well aware that he is a very blunt and up front honest. There’s no smoke or evasive beating around the bush when you talk with Quigley. Ask a direct question and you get a direct, no frills answer.
Following last Friday’s 2-0 Southern Connecticut Conference Housatonic Division loss to arch rival, Cheshire, Quigley minced no words when he explained his displeasure with his team’s performance.
He said, “We haven’t played well all season. We’re relying too much on certain talented individuals and those talented individuals are not playing as hard as they should. We have too much talent to be where we are right now. Hard work beats talent because talent frequently doesn’t work hard. Other teams work hard against and play their best against us and aren’t intimidated by us just because we are Amity. We’re playing as individuals rather than as a team.”
Following a scoreless first half, Cheshire finally broke the ice when Nicole Stauffer scored an unassisted goal at the 49 minute mark. Set up on a feed from Stauffer, Jennie Hart added another score at 63 minutes. The victorious Rams (now 3-1-1) outshot the Lady Spartans 15-8.
“They caught us on 1 shot,” Quigley added. “Nine out of 10 times our goalie (Zoie Reed, who made 8 saves) makes that save.
He went on to point out that the Rams made some big runs and imposed their will on his booters.
He added, “It was a game between 2 average teams and we only played in spurts. We made a mistake and they punished us. On top of that, for some unknown reason, we decided not to shoot the ball. This was the worst performance I’ve seen in my 11 bys as Amity coach. If I was a spectator, I’d have gotten up and left.”
Quigley did single out the efforts of Dakota Kelly, who filled in for the Lady Spartans’ top scorer Meghan Howard, who sat out due to an assortment of minor injuries.
Howard tallied a three goal hat trick earlier in the week as Amity shut out West Haven 5-0. Tara Ramierez and freshman Alexa Gibbs also scored for the 2-1-1 winners who outshot the 0-4 Blue Devils 26-2. While Reed had to make only 2 saves, Quigley praised her season-long efforts in the net.
He said, “Zoie has been a bright spot for us.”
Looking ahead Quigley insisted that it was time for his younger players step up and make significant varsity contributions.
He added, “They can’t be passengers going along for the ride or tell me how good they are. It’s time for them to show me how good they are, especially when we are playing against decent teams. We can’t let ourselves be pushed around or allow our opponents to dictate how the game should go. Those days are over. From now on, regardless of grade, I’m going to play the girls who put forth the proper effort.”
The Lady Spartans visit Lyman Hall today in a 3:45 PM Housy contest.
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