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- Category: Past Issues
caption:
The Team
The NECONN boys’ U12 soccer team. Courtesy photo.
The NECONN Boys’ U12 Soccer team hosted Coventry on Halloween and came up just short by the score of 1-2. It was a very well played, physical game that either team could have won. Coventry recorded the only goal of the first half when they converted on a perfect corner kick play at the midpoint of the period. NECONN responded with an up-tempo offense that kept pressure on the Coventry defense for the remainder of the half. NECONN forward Sam Paul played a tremendous game, distributing the ball to teammates Evan Cunningham, David Redfield and Max Paro, but ball would just not find the back of the net.
In the second half, the stingy defense of Connor Fillmore, Cal Wilcox, Jack Liggett, William Liscomb and Alec Nystrom kept the Coventry attack off balance. The result was a renewed NECONN offense that saw Elijah Dufour, Adam Trudeau and Zach Gagnon make strong bids at the Coventry net, but again, the ball seemed to go everywhere but between the posts. Finally, at the18-minute mark, Ryan Black took a corner kick that just missed. The ball rattled around in the box as a number of NECONN players had a chance to finish, but it was Ryan who followed his shot his kick and banged the ball home to tie the game at 1-1.
In the closing minutes, NECONN and Coventry both had numerous chances to take the lead. NECONN goalie Chris Walker was tremendous as he tipped away two low drives to the corners and started the attack up field. Unfortunately, a strange play, where NECONN thought the ball was blown dead, resulted in a break for Coventry and ultimately the winning goal. The loss gives NECONN a 3-5-1 record. They will wait for end-of-season tournament pairings to be posted before they will know their matchup in the final game of the season this weekend.