SOMERS, N.Y. - On Friday, Oct. 23, Somers hosted Pelham in the opening round of the sectional playoffs, and the Tuskers didn’t take long to gain an edge.
“It was really important to get the groove going for the team,” said Milan Sath after scoring eight minutes into the game, and the senior wasn’t wrong.
Somers held the advantage through the first half and scored four more goals in a 5-0 victory.
The boys came out of the gate even sooner. Off a long clear from the Pelham zone, the Somers attack won the marathon, and when the ball kicked out front, Trevor Keimig sent it wide at 38:42.
Ninety seconds later, the Tusker defense went long again, and this time Kaon Demaj won the battle in the frontcourt. The ball kicked forward, but goalie Chris Passante got his foot there first, and the play rolled harmlessly out of bounds.
Back the other way, the subsequent Pelham incursion was a lot more perilous. On another long pass, the Pelican winger made a move around the defense and stood one-on-one with the goalie. Not good enough. Nick Chao met the threat, and his powerful kick deflected the ball wide at 34:25.
Chao responded by sending his goal kick well past midfield, and Keimig’s legwork on the sideline drew a free kick at 33:40. The advance was initially denied, but Somers kept the ball on the Pelham side, and Demaj sent it back into the danger zone.
Sath settled, got the ball to Harper Ritson, and he returned the favor.
“Harper played a great ball, flicked back to me, I took it down and got lucky with the rebound,” said the forward.
Scoring at 32:41, Sath knew the importance of the early advantage.
“The goal really set the tone,” he said.
Kicking high, Somers kept coming. The Tuskers kept the ball in the Pelican zone, and Ritson’s long legs seemed like the primary vehicle on a number of lead passes over the next few minutes.
Still, Pelham emerged from its zone around the 24-minute mark, but there was no rest for the Somers defense. Danny Semenza and Demaj both disrupted plays with their heads, and Ritson swung from his heels to end the threat.
And the formula persisted when necessary.
“We just stayed on ‘em. The two center backs stayed on the strikers, and me and Braeden (Gibson), we got on the wings,” Semenza explained.
Shutting down the Tusker offense was another matter, though. Off a midfield throw-in at the 23-minute mark, Kenji Todo controlled, dribbled into space and used the back of his foot to thread a perfect pass to Ritson. On the left, the midfielder wound up and sent the Pelham goalie flying.
Passante made the diving save, and the pressure persisted for the rest of the half, but the floodgates wouldn’t open until after intermission.
Eight minutes into the second half, Ritson broke through.
On another long kick downfield, Ritson was head, shoulders and all feet between two defenders.
“I fought and won the ball,” he said.
Once the ball was on the ground, Ritson kicked it between Passante’s legs.
Up 2-0 at 32:30, Somers refused to let up, and a corner kick a few minutes later proved the point.
“I saw it pop up and no one else was going for it,” said Ritson. “So I thought I might as well go up for it and put it in.”
At 28:08, the senior did just that, and most of the doubt disappeared. Even so, there was still work to be done.
After Chao took possession on the other end, his long-range missile had Ritson and Keimig doing damage at ground zero.
“Harper got his head on the ball,” said Keimig. “It couldn’t have been a better flick, and I just used my pace. Two touches and I hit the side netting.”
One last goal came courtesy of AJ Coviello. Putting a healthy dent in the net, the sophomore’s goal wasn’t just about cementing the final score.
“Hopefully this gives a good impression for the future,” said Coviello.
But his wasn’t the only message sent.
“This is a big statement win,” said Ritson, adding that there’s more to come.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here