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- Category: Past Issues
caption: NECONN Boys' U14 soccer champs. Courtesy photo.
It was a busy weekend for the NECONN Boys’ U14 Soccer team as they competed in the Columbia/Windham Columbus Day Tournament. They played five games in two days and came away with a 5-0 record and the tournament championship!
In Saturday’s first game, NECONN matched up with the team from Norwich and defeated them by the score of 3-1. Max Paro would score the first goal of the game just a minute into the contest off a perfect cross from Sam Paul. Paro would also notch the second goal of the game six minutes later off an Evan Cunningham throw-in that Max ran under and redirected into the next. Up 2-0, NECONN opened the second half with more pressure on the Norwich net. About half way through the half, Ryan Black collected a through ball from Paro and outmaneuvered a number of Norwich players to give NECONN a 3-0 lead. Norwich did score a pretty, head-ball goal with just seconds left on the clock, but it was a little too late as NECONN recorded their first victory of the tournament. Standouts in the game were Marco Suriano at the midfield position, Zach Gagnon, Elijah Dufour, Collin Singleton and Travis Hayward at defense and William Liscomb in the net.
In the second game of the day, NECONN dominated the team from Groton by the score of 7-0. Exactly like the previous game with Norwich, just a minute into the game Sam Paul would cross a great ball into the box that Max Paro would bury on a one-time shot. Ten minutes later, Paro would get an unassisted goal when he beat the Groton defense on the dribble and slid home the team’s second goal of the game. William Liscomb would give NECONN a 3-0 lead going into the half when he collected a cross from Paul that he slid into the corner of the net. The second half was all NECONN. William Hamill would extend the team’s lead when he drilled home a perfect flick-on by Evan Cunningham at the top of the box. Cunningham would then get NECONN’s next two goals, one on a penalty kick after he was taken down in the box and the other on breakaway through-ball from David Redfield. Redfield would get the team’s final goal of the game when he took a direct kick from outside the box that he bent into the top corner. Great team-play from Josh Resnick, Tristan Anderson, Ian Sohan and Garrett Sward contributed to NECONN’s second win of the tournament.
The following Sunday, NECONN opened the day with a matchup against Bristol. Though play was as not as crisp as the day before, the final score was 5-0 in favor of NECONN. Three minutes into the first half, Paro would take a throw-in from Cunningham and notch the team’s first goal. Ten minutes later, Cunningham would score a goal of his own off an assist from Josh Resnick. In the second half, William Liscomb would score the team’s third and fourth goals; his first was off a header from a Paro cross and his second was on a pretty breakaway rush. In the waning minutes, Cunningham would get a breakaway of his own to complete the 5-0 shutout. Goalies Travis Hayward and Elijah Dufour combined for the shutout.
With three opening round wins, NECONN was seeded first in the playoff round. In the semifinal game they matched up with #4 seed Norwich, the team they had beaten 3-1 the day before. As fate would have it, the boys repeated their performance with Norwich and again won by a score of 3-1. This game was not as easy of the first one, as the teams went into the half tied 1-1. NECONN’s lone goal in that period came from Josh Resnick on a Marco Suriano assist, and Norwich’s goal came on a long lofted ball that goalie Elijah Dufour was helpless to save. In the second half, NECONN finally wore down Norwich and scored back-to-back goals late in the game. Both tallies were scored by Evan Cunningham. His first was on an incredible individual effort breakaway that stunned the opposition, and then minutes later David Redfield sent Cunningham in alone again for the team’s third goal of the day. Sam Paul and Marco Suriano were outstanding from their outside midfield positions all game long!
In the finals, NECONN matched up with the home team: Columbia/Windham. CW had remained unbeaten in their half of the draw, so the championship game pitted two undefeated teams against one another. Before the game was a minute old, Evan Cunningham was awarded a penalty kick when CW was whistled for a hand-ball in the box. Cunningham took full advantage of the situation and buried the kick to give NECONN the early 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, though, CW came back to tie the score on a nice passing play up the middle. From that point on, it was all NECONN. William Liscomb would score two tremendous goals from his right wing position, and then William Hamill would give the team a 4-1 half time lead when he patiently knocked home a ball from the top of the box. Max Paro recorded the assist on all three goals. NECONN played smart ball for the remainder of the game, especially from Ian Sohan who seemed to be everywhere, and when Sam Paul took a corner kick with fifteen minutes left and saw Paro tuck home the lofted ball, it was all but over. NECONN would take home a 5-1 victory and the tournament championship.
Despite the strong offensive performance throughout the tournament, it was NECONN’s defense that deserves much of the credit. David Redfield and Collin Singleton took charge up the middle, Zach Gagnon, Travis Hayward and Garrett Sward rotated through the defensive wings, and goalie Elijah Dufour, playing all of the playoff round games, was tremendous in the net!
NECONN gets back to league play on oCT. 14 when they travel to Coventry for a 9:30 a.m. game.