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- Category: Past Issues
caption, page 9:
Clears Ball
NECONN keeper Alexander Frankhouser clears ball during a game against Marlborough. Courtesy photo.
NECONN
boys'
U12 soccer
begins
season
The NECONN boys’ U12 soccer team began their fall season Sept. 10 with a 2-3 loss to Marlborough on the road. It was an evenly contested game that saw NECONN just fall short in the closing minutes.
NECONN started strong and dominated play in the early going. The defense of David Redfield, Connor Fillmore and William Liscomb were in mid-season form as they stepped up aggressively and denied Marlborough any good looks at the goal. With three minutes gone in the game, midfielder Ryan Black slotted a perfect through ball to striker Sam Paul. Sam shielded off his opponent and cracked a nice left-footed volley just inside the eighteen yard box that found the right side of the net. Up 1-0 early, the team continued to play well until a Marlborough forward found daylight at about the nine minute mark and hit a perfect instep kick into the top, right corner from fifteen yards out that NECONN keeper Alexander Frankhouser had no chance on. Play continued to seesaw back and forth, but it was Marlborough that took advantage of a failed clearing attempt by NECONN and scored the go-ahead goal to make it 2-1 going into the half.
To start the second, NECONN had numerous quality scoring attempts. Midfielders Max Paro, Elijah Dufour and Chris Walker kept the ball in the NECONN half of the field, but with thirteen minutes left in the game, a Marlborough striker gained a step on the NECONN defense and scored a breakaway goal to put the home team up by the score of 3-1. Some good offensive runs by Adam Trudeau and Alec Nystrom gave NECONN life in the late minutes, but it was David Redfield, having pushed up from his defensive position, who scored NECONN’s second goal of the day on a pretty, in close move that just eluded the Marlborough keeper. Down one goal with two minutes left on the clock, NECONN pushed forward, trying to get the equalizer, but the clock would win out, putting NECONN’s early season record at 0-1.
NECONN next plays at WAM on Sept. 17 and then hosts Ellington in their home opener Sept. 19 on the Pomfret School campus at 5 p.m.