Phil Brodsky
Lots of action at the Oct. 9 home game.By PHIL BRODSKY
Orange Live Sports Writer
Sponsored by Resnik and Resnik
Last week was a good week for the Amity boys soccer team. The Spartans defeated Southern Connecticut Conference rivals East Haven (7-1) and Lyman Hall (3-1). In addition Coach Mike Marchitto’s boys settled for a 1-1 tie with Shelton. Following all that action, Amity currently has a 9-1-1 record.
The Spartans jumped out to a 2-0 halftime lead over the Easties thanks to goals by Joe Guerra (with help from Dean Schwartz) with 19 minutes, 22 gone in the first half. Aaron Cooper (assisted by Simone Kantore made it 2-0 at 36:32.) East Haven’s Jhalmer Cambizaca spoiled Spartan netminder Griffin Volta’s shutout bid when he beat him at 38:40.
In the second half, Amity (leading 2-1) blasted five more shots past Yellow Jacket goalie, Gennaro Gagliardi. Those shots were booted home by Ian O’Brien-Cannon (assisted by Jeremy Conn on a corner kick) at 53:14, Evan Donohue (assisted by O’Brien-Cannon on a corner kick) at 59:09, Guerra (assisted by Kantor, who fed Guerra with a perfectly placed cross) at 60:07, Schwartz (from Justyn Broderick on a cross that Guerra settled and then drilled home) at 69:25, and Matt Whitehill (assisted by Schwartz,) at 72:35.
According to Marchitto, “This was a total team effort. We played great against East Haven, which quite honestly is less than a challenging team. During the last three to five minutes of the game, they never touched the ball. I finally told my guys to stop trying to score.
Amity outshot the Jackets 23-4 and Volta was called on to make only four saves.
The Lyman Hall match was much closer. The Spartans outshot the Trojans 15-12.
After his dash down the right side , Ricky Mayer slid a left-footed cross to Schwartz and he banged the ball into the net at 3:00. The score remained 1-0 until O’Brien-Cannon headed home a corner kick by Conn with one minute left in the first half. Shelton’s Claudio Lobello scored the only goal of the first half.
“Ian has a big, powerful header,” Marchitto said.
At 78:48 Guera intercepted a Lyman Hall pass and blasted the ball past Trojan goalie, Bob O’Bryne at 78:48. That three-goal lead was short-lived as Lyman Hall’s Jeff Baska spoiled Volta’s shutout bid six seconds after Guerra’s goal.
“Our defense (Austin Duffy, Jon Sutton, and O’Brien-Cannon) played really well in this game, but we fell asleep and gave up that late goal after Joe scored. We can’t afford mental mistakes like that when we play really good teams in the state tournament,” Marchitto added.
Volta made 11 saves against Lyman Hall, which now has a 4-4-1 record.
Friday’s 1-1 stand-off with Shelton was really a battle of two very different halves. Marchitto felt that the Gaels definitely dominated the opening 40 minute session.
He said, “They came right at us and controlled the ball. We panicked and began to kick and chase long balls.”
Shelton’s Guiti DeSouza scored the only goal of the first half. It came at 38:58.
While the first half belonged to Shelton, Amity settled down and dominated the play in the second half.
The Black Gold evened the score at 1-1 when Mayer found the net at 62:48.
Marchitto added, “We slowed their counter-attacks and played our game. We were the better team in the second half. Our three defensive backs (O’Brien-Cannon, Duffy, and Sutton) really were the anchors of our team.”
With this Housy deadlock, Shelton hold a 4-4-3 record (2-1-3 against Housy opponents.
Lots of action at the Oct. 9 home game.
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