NECONN pg 9 10-27-11
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- Category: Past Issues
On the Ball
NECONN’s Sean McGroary vs. WAM. Courtesy photo.
The NECONN boys’ U14 soccer team concluded their regular season with a convincing 7-1 win vs. WAM (Willington, Ashford & Mansfield).
NECONN had a very inauspicious start to the game, giving up a goal in the first minute and a half of play. Miscommunication in the back left NECONN keeper Jonathan Hummer stranded with a WAM player wide open in front of the net for the score. NECONN’s response was to take the ensuing kickoff and build down the field for a Chris Walker tally off a feed from Sam Paul. The score remained 1-1 for another 20 minutes until Evan Cunningham decided to put the game away.
In a span of seven minutes, Cunningham scored three consecutive goals to give NECONN a 4-1 lead going into the half. Off assists from Max Paro, Robert Totten and Jack Liggett, Cunningham used his speed and quickness to find open looks that he buried into the back of the net. Besides the offensive surge, it was the strong defense of David Redfield, Alec Nystrom and Elijah Dufour that dismantled the WAM attack from doing any further damage.
In the second half, strikers Sean McGroary, Aaron Lambert and Ethan Rogers continued to put the pressure on the WAM defense, but it was Sam Paul who upped the score to 5-1 when he volleyed a 20-yard rocket behind the WAM goalie off a Marco Suriano assist.
Robert Totten would follow with a nice goal at the 20-minute mark of the period, assisted by Evan O’Connor, and William Liscomb would finish the scoring off late in the game off a Jack Liggett through-ball that sprung Liscomb behind the WAM defense and in for the score.
NECONN ends the regular season with a 4-1-3 record, good for one of the top spots in the standings. They have a bye this weekend and will await the scores from the other eight teams in the league to see how they will be seeded in championship play to be held on Nov. 5 and 6.