SOMERS, N.Y. - Somers boys soccer opened the season on Thursday, Sept. 4, with a tough road test at Pleasantville.
It didn’t take long to see what the Tuskers were up against. Panther forward Garvin Kayizzi made his presence felt early, pressuring from the corner and eventually finishing both the first and final goals in a 4-1 Pleasantville victory.
Despite the scoreline, Somers showed fight in the opening minutes. At 36:05, Shane Carroll stripped the ball on the sideline and fed Trevor Keimig in the middle, who fired a shot just over the crossbar. Minutes later, Keimig combined with Randy Contreras for another look, but this time the attempt went wide.
Pleasantville soon shifted momentum. At 27:24, after Nicholas Chao made an initial save, Somers failed to clear the rebound and Kayizzi pounced to put the Panthers ahead. Chao stayed busy, climbing high to intercept a Nicholas Tassier corner and later reading Tassier’s hook shot through traffic to keep the deficit at one.
Somers nearly equalized when Harper Ritson broke through the defense, but Pleasantville keeper Joe Pecoraro disrupted the shot. The Tuskers stayed aggressive, and Eduardo Ruiz rattled the crossbar from 20 yards out after a throw-in.
Still, Pleasantville doubled its lead with 7:48 left in the half. Stephen O’Leary took a feed from midfield, pulled the defense forward, and set up Danny McInerny for a finish. Barely a minute later, the duo struck again—McInerny kept a bouncing ball alive, O’Leary controlled with his head and left foot, and buried it just under the crossbar for a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Somers clawed one back after the break. Contreras converted a penalty kick from 10 yards out at 28:17 to make it 3-1. But Pleasantville sealed the game late, as Kayizzi broke free down the right side and scored his second of the night with 12:41 remaining.
The Panthers’ balanced attack proved too much, and Somers opened its season with a touch loss.
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