sayville 1 goshen 0 state semifinals 2010
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FriendsAcademy’sMattSlotnick,right,battlesJustinPierce. butshotoverthecrossbarthen aswell. Finkelsteinmadefoursaves forGoshen(13-4-3). It is Sayville’s first appear- anceinthestatefinals. “We’vemadetheplayoffs16 straightyearsbutthisisthefur- thestwe’veevergottenandit feelsgood,”SayvillecoachVal Wintersaid.“Mygoalinitially was to get them this far be- cause it’s an experience just beingherebutnowthatwe’re here just getting here is not goodenoughanymore.” BYADAMRONIS B13TRANSCRIPT
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BY ADAM [email protected]
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — Theclock froze with 21:23 left in thefirst half between Friends Acade-my and Madrid-Waddington yes-terday. Even if the official timewasn’t kept on the field, theextra free minutes wouldn’thave helped Madrid-Wadding-ton against the Friends Acade-my starters.
Friends Academy was domi-nant, using five first-half goals tohandle Madrid-Waddingtonwith ease, 5-2, in a state Class Cboys soccer semifinal at Middle-town High School. Friends Acad-emy (14-1-2) will attempt to winits second consecutive statechampionship against Marathonat 12:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Mike Isernio scored twogoals, Matt Slotnick and ColinHeffron each had one goal andone assist, and David Sherscored for the Quakers, whoscored five goals for the secondstraight game.
It didn’t take long for the Quak-ers to strike. Slotnick took a blastthat went off Madrid-Wadding-ton goalkeeper Alex Brock andthe ball went right to Isernio,who scored less than two min-utes into the game. Slotnick, Hef-fron, and Chris Campbell are thefoundation of the team and Slot-
nick has scored 28 goals, but it’sbeen different Quakers whohave complemented that trio inthe past few games.
Isernio was the one yesterday.“We’re all really good soccer
players,” he said. “Those threeare the core of the group and it’sgreat when someone else canpitch in. We’re just playing somegreat soccer. We’re possessingthe ball and getting a lot of chanc-es and we’re finishing.”
Said Friends Academy coachMarshall Lindner: “Isernio is oneof those grinding type of players.He constantly plays in the defen-sive end well and lately he’s hadsuccess moving forward. He’s be-coming more confident with theball and being more creative.More guys are getting involvedin the offense besides just Matt.If they’re going to key on him,we have a lot of guys who canscore.”
Heffron scored in the 13thminute, Slotnick scored 12 min-utes later, Sher scored with 7:53left in the first half, and Isernioscored with two seconds left inthe first half. Eli Rousso madeseven saves in the win.
Friends Academy had justthree starters on the field tobegin the second half. But MattKendall scored with 25:52 left inthe game and four minutes later,Brom Steinberg pulled Madrid-Waddington (14-2-3) within 5-2.Then the Quakers sent theirstarters back into the game.
BY JAMES [email protected]
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — Say-ville’s Sean Fullam joked aboutthe developing off-the-fieldchemistry he has with team-mate Vincent Sakk. Fullam andSakk have been sharing a hotelroom as the Golden Flashescompete in the boys soccerstate tournament.
“We have a connectiongoing on,” Fullam said, laugh-ing. “It carried onto the field.”
The connection workedwhen Fullam sent a cross in-side the six-yard box to an un-defended Sakk who easilytapped the ball past Goshengoalkeeper Doug Finkelsteinwith 9:22 left in the second halfto give the Golden Flashes a 1-0victory over Goshen in theClass A state semifinals yester-day at Middletown HighSchool’s Faller Turf Field.
Sayville (19-1-1) will facePittsford Mendon (17-2-2) inthe state championship todayat 10:30 a.m.
Sakk said it was one of theeasiest goals he’s ever scored.“I better not have missed it,”Sakk said. “It was handed tome; doesn’t matter how we didit, just put it in the back of thenet.”
Fullam, who scored twogoals in the Long Islandfinal/Southeast Regional finalagainst South Side last Sunday,beat a Goshen defender to theball after it deflected off of asecond Goshen player beforepassing it across to Sakk.
“We were up there with thedefenders all game, just wait-ing for one break,” Fullam said.“I knew if I just laid it acrossthe six someone would bethere.”
Goshen nearly tied the scorein the final minute on a headerby Dylan Begany but Sayvillegoalkeeper Dan Scheck wasthere to make the save. TheTemple-bound Scheck madefive saves in his fourth consecu-tive shutout.
“I’ve said it once I’ve said it a
thousand times the kid’s a solidrock back there,” Fullam said ofScheck. “The crowd was cheer-ing ‘brick wall,’ it’s not a joke.”
The Golden Flashes have al-lowed just three goals all sea-son and posted shutouts in 19of 21 games.
Sayville avoided disasterwhen Goshen’s Kenny Ander-son shot the ball over the cross-bar from less than 15 yards outwith 16:20 left in the secondhalf. It was déjà vu for Ander-son, who had a similar opportu-nity in the 33rd minute of play
but shot over the crossbar thenas well.
Finkelstein made four savesfor Goshen (13-4-3).
It is Sayville’s first appear-ance in the state finals.
“We’ve made the playoffs 16straight years but this is the fur-thest we’ve ever gotten and itfeels good,” Sayville coach ValWinter said. “My goal initiallywas to get them this far be-cause it’s an experience justbeing here but now that we’rehere just getting here is notgood enough anymore.”
Isernio kicks two,Friends dominate
Friends Academy’s Matt Slotnick, right, battles Justin Pierce.
Sakk’s goal leadsto the title game
Sayville senior Vincent Sakk after scoring the game-winning goal.
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