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- Category: Past Issues
caption, pg. 9:
“NECONN’S #99 Aaron Lambert distributes the ball.” Photo is from Jenn McGroary.
NECONN
boys split series
POMFRET --- Sept. 17 the NECONN boys’ U14 soccer team traveled to Hebron and came out on the losing end of a very competitive contest by the score of 4-5. NECONN and Hebron played to a 1-1 half-time score. Ryan Black tallied the NECONN goal while Jonathan Hummer defended the net.
In the second half, Hebron came out dominating play and scored the next two goals. Black would get NECONN back in the game with his second goal of the game, but Hebron quickly countered with another goal of its own to take a 4-2 lead.
NECONN never folded though, inching the score to 4-3 on an Evan Cunningham tally, but Hebron scored again to regain the two-goal advantage. Late in the period NECONN’s Marco Suriano gave the team hope when he scored his first goal of the season, but that was all NECONN could muster in the waning moments and dropped its first game of the young season. Special mention goes out to Cal Wilcox, William Liscomb, Jack Liggett, Evan O’Connor, Sean McGroary and Alexander Frankhouser for their gritty play throughout the contest.
Sept. 18 NECONN hit the road again and ventured to Ellington for an afternoon tilt. This would prove to be another very close game, but this time NECONN came out on top by the score of 3-1.
At about the 20-minute mark of the first half, Ryan Black would hustle under a bouncing through ball and chip a perfect shot over the Ellington’s keeper’s head to put NECONN up 1-0. Five minutes later, a NECONN player was called for a push in the defensive box, giving Ellington a penalty kick. NECONN goalie Chris Walker initially made a great diving save on the kick, but the ball just deflected off his gloves and over the goal line to tie the game at 1-1.
The two teams would battle evenly through the final minutes of the first half, but with just two seconds left on the clock, Marco Suriano slid a ball past the Ellington defense, and Ryan Black outhustled the opposing defender to the ball and somehow laced one past the scrambling Ellington goalie to give NECONN a 2-1 halftime lead. Great first-half play was put in by NECONN’s midfield team of David Redfield, Travis Hayward, Aaron Lambert, Elijah Dufour and Ethan Rogers.
The second half saw solid defense by both teams. Ellington would make a great stop and then counter, only to see NECONN make a great stop and counter back the other way. NECONN defenders Alec Nystrom, Zach Gagnon, Robert Totten and Sam Paul were rock solid and gave goalie Chris Walker plenty of support in the final 40 minutes of play. With just five seconds left on the clock, Travis Hayward would crack a ball on net that the Ellington keeper bobbled. Max Paro was camped in the right spot at the right time and volleyed the loose ball into the back of the net to cap off a 3-1 victory.
NECONN’s record now stands at 2-1; they next take on Vernon Sept. 25 in their last regularly scheduled road game of the season.