Welcome to the twelfth installment of “Set Piece”, the Southington High School Soccer team’s blog spot.
Blue Knight’s on the Pitch: A Look Back and a Look Forward
Varsity:
On Tuesday evening, the Blue Knights took on Newtown High School in the first round of the state tournament. Southington pushed the action early and were rewarded with the first goal of the game off a very nice corner kick by Alexis Frausto which Elijah Rodriguez finished for a 1-0 lead. The first half ended with the Blue Knights leading 1-0. For the first half of second 40 minutes, Southington worked hard to generate opportunities while playing strong defense to hold onto the slim 1-0 lead. Newtown finally broke through with a goal to tie the game at 1-1. Moments later, the Blue Knights were stunned by Newtown with a second goal to take a 2-1 lead. From that point forward, Southington would need to press hard to tie the game. In the most dramatic flurry of action of the entire season, Southington had 3 excellent chances to tie the game in rapid succession with two of the three shots hitting the crossbar. Newtown should be given credit for standing tall, but it was hard to believe that Southington couldn’t find the back of the net during those crazy moments. The Blue Knights would generate a couple of more chances, but ultimately the clock expired and Newtown prevailed with a 2-1 victory.
With the loss, the season comes to an end for the Blue Knights, ending with a final record of 10-5-2.
For our seniors, this would be last time they would suit up for Southington High School. The remainder of the team will take a deep breath and after a short break will begin off-season workouts and begin the journey of preparing for next season.
Everyone is also looking forward to the annual banquet on 11/22 at the Aqua Turf. It is always a special night for a celebration of another season.
As we wrap up the season, I would like to do a special shout out for Dave Rodriguez for all of the pictures that he provided as we worked together to chronicle the season and share with all of you the hard work of our boys.