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- Category: Past Issues
Pomfret School
Varsity Soccer
Pomfret 5 Cheshire 1
Nov. 5: There are times when not everyone is on the same page, when some players have to rise above their normal level of play in order to give time for the team to get back to its level. Cheshire came in like gangbusters and played shot for shot with Pomfret while the boys figured things out. The play for the first half was a save by AJ Bourdon as he came out on a breakaway and stopped it with a point blank range stop. It was his save of the year. He had another equally spectacular one a little while later. It lifted the team and only a few moments later Charlie Gruner and Jack Nicholson scored off a dead ball play. Jack touched the indirect ball to Charlie who threaded the needle of the wall and put the ball into the lower left corner. It was the first of two that Charlie scored before he hurt his back in the second half and had to leave the game with spasms.
The defense struggled a little bit as Cheshire had two fast forwards up top that hauled down the long ball. Max King and John Cunningham had trouble with Zerpa Nestor three-time WNEPSSA-All star who they finally wrangled in the second half even then he scored a goal to break the shutout minute streak they had put together. Tom Trogele was playing well but also had to leave due to injury and Remy Hatfield stepped in at the back spot. We had Chris Alves step in for Max who is still trying to shake the flu and played a flawless game with John Cunningham. It was the final of four positions that Chris played on the day. Jack stepped up and added a great goal in the second half where he teamed up with Diego Briones on a give and go outside run. Diego dished the ball and went to the outside corner, pulling the defender and then Jack cut inside across the top of the 18 and then smacked the ball back across the grain into the lower right corner for his second goal of the season.
It was Senior day and both Will Dana and Jon Pate earned their first starts of the year. Will starting up top had some nice runs and in the second half had a great lefty shot. Jon Pate really played some solid defense at the wing back spot. As the second half started, Diego figured in a goal that started the early part of the second half as we shuffled things around to compensate for Charlie. We dropped both Drew Cobin and Lucas Gillespie back to play the middle spot, and also used Harrison Chase up from his normal spot. All really contributed as Pomfret moved the ball well in the second half. The wake-up call early in the second half was the goal by Cheshire as Pomfret failed to clear and they scored on a rebound. Then Pomfret marched right back as Diego slipped a ball to Tim Haggerty at the corner of the 18 who turned and fired and went bar down. It was a striker’s shot from a tough angle. This gave Pomfret life and a 3-1 edge. Lucas fully recovered from his illness was moving in and out and distributing well and had some shots of his own. Harrison was dominant in the air. He has really risen in the past few games and it makes all the difference. Jack then scored his goal from the outside to make 4-1.
The play got even better and we seemed to be back in the flow. Mark Kozlowski came in and played some of his best ball of the year with two classic runs to the outside and just seemed to thrive off the fan support. Shandy Chen also got in on the action as he came across from his middle spot and delivered some nice thru balls. It was then that we replaced AJ with Harrison Schroder. Up top JJ Lee continues to impress as he had some nice feeds and struck some excellent corners to onrushing players. At one point he and Chris Grandi had a nice little tic-tac-toe play between them for a scoring chance. It was then that JJ fed Tim Haggerty for his second goal of the game with a nice thru ball feed which Tim flagged upper right. It was the final tally of the game.
Pomfret 3 Cushing 0
Nov. 9: The boys played their final regular season game at home against Cushing and finished with a 3-0 win. It was the 10th consecutive win for the team and is the longest soccer win streak in at least 30 plus years. The team finished the season 12-1.
The contest was tight from the start, and Pomfret was playing with little urgency in the first half. There were some good individual performances—such as Lucas Gillespie making some nice crosses from the wing, or the defense stepping up with Max King and John Cunningham in the middle to cover the potent Cushing attack. Charlie Gruner was not 100% and was giving it his best go with back spasms, but did not dominate his usual middle and Harrison Chase had to cover some extra ground. AJ was playing well off his line and did an outstanding job of covering plays on the outside, as the Cushing philosophy was to turn and fire whenever within range. This meant the wing defense in Tom Trogele and Jack Nicholson had to play a little tighter and get help from Diego Briones and Lucas to prevent the cutback. They were able to do this but our transition from offense to defense just did not play out. We were getting gaped and running a lot as we played long ball a little too much. We had Chris Alves come in for Charlie as he continued to loosen his back and JJ Lee stepped in up front. There were some close calls with balls bouncing across the middle that were just missed as Diego really stepped up his aggressive game and tried to bring the ball across. Chris Grandi gave us a jump with some high-energy minutes inside.
The first goal was brought across from Tim to Drew who turned the play inside out at the top of the 18 and had two defenders hanging on him as he sniped lower corner for a great goal. The relief was palpable. All of sudden, we were ourselves. This was four minutes into the half and seemed to sag the Cushing team. It was only five minutes later that Drew went end line and crossed to a charging Lucas Gillespie—who was all over the place this game—who finished the point blank play. That was Coach Burke’s point—draw the defense and bring it across. They did. Harrison got a nosebleed and so once again Chris Alves played his fourth position of the game. It is such a luxury for us to have him in there when he can play any position. He also most scored on a cross as he was shoved from behind. Harrison came back in and finished with three shots of his own today as he moved the ball well and was dangerously effective.
Lucas got a breather and in came Shandy Chen playing some the best ball of the season. He stepped on his man and worked hard and then stayed on the ground on an attempted clear and the ball ricochet in front of him. He went by the defender at the 18, who in desperation tried to stop the ball with his hand—but he was in the box. Shandy was awarded the penalty kick and responded by going top shelf with it. A scorer’s goal. Then Pomfret was back to playing its game. On the outside Remy Hatfield made some great runs and had two great crosses into the box and then followed that with Jon Pate on the other side who just missed going end line. Mark Kozlowski stepped into the defense and played very well in relief of Tom Trogele on the wing defense and made some nice overlapping runs of his own. Finally Will Dana got in up top and had an excellent scoring chance as time wound down. AJ finished his final senior regular game with yet another shutout.