Welcome to the sixth 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:
Tuesday evening the Blue Knights went on the road to take on undefeated Berlin High School. Southington came out strong and created a number of good scoring chances and finally broke through midway through the first half on a goal by Joe Calaccino with set up from Elijah Rodriguez. The first half ended with Southington leading 1-0. Berlin came out of the halftime break very aggressive and were rewarded with a tying goal very early into the second half. From that point forward, that match was evenly played with both teams generating scoring opportunities. As the clock wound down, it appeared that the Blue Knights were once again headed to overtime. With under a minute to play, Southington drove the ball into the Berlin end of the field that resulted in a corner kick with 10 seconds remaining on the clock. Dan Topper launched the corner kick towards the goal, Alexis Frausto found open space moving to goal and knocked the ball into the back of the net with the ball never touching the ground. Alexis ended up at the bottom of a very happy pile of Southington soccer players and the Blue Knights had their most exciting win of the season 2-1.
On Friday night, the Blue Knights returned home for the annual Southington United game against New Britain. This game would be played under cool, damp and wet conditions. Rain started early in the fist half and remained steady for the entire game. The Blue Knights pushed the action and scored the first goal off a long-range free kick by Hayden Burbank. Southington continued to push the action and Joe Calaccino scored the second goal leading to a 2-0 halftime lead. Southington played steady in the second half and Evan Daddona preserved the shutout with a couple of nice saves. Southington completed its first two-win week of the season with a 2-0 victory.
The Varsity team record at the end of this week is 4-2-1.
Freshman:
On Monday, the freshman traveled to Avon on a gorgeous fall afternoon. The game turned out to be a tale of two halves. Southington controlled the game from the opening kickoff, but Avon would find the goal first on a break and one of their only threatening moments of the first half. Down 0-1 Ray Cocozza tied the game off a free kick and the half ended 1-1 with Southington controlling the ball throughout. The second half was a complete reversal with Avon keeping the ball in the Southington zone for most of the second half with a tired group with no field subs. Kyle Buchannan had numerous saves and Andrew Kudla headed a ball out at the goal line to keep Avon to a single goal and the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
Thursday. New Britian traveled to Southington on another nice day, although a bit windy. Southington opened the game up with a goal from Caleb Richert in the first half minute of the game. Joey Tellerico added another goal, but then New Britain would answer on a break and the first half ended 2-1 with Southington keeping the ball in the New Britian zone for most of the half. The second half was more of the same with Southington putting together multiple passes and holding possession. This would eventually lead to four more goals with Joey Tellerico adding two more for a hat trick and a goal each by Chris Chaplinsky and Matthew Maciejewski with assists by Andrew Kudla. Final score 6-1 Southington.
Looking forward to next week
The Blue Knights Varsity team will have a home match on Tuesday (10/4) at 6pm against Windsor. The week will wrap up with an away match against a strong Hall High School on Friday (10/7) at 6pm.
Vote for Alexis Frausto as Student-Athlete of the Week
CPTV Sports has nominated our very own Alexis Frausto along with 5 other local high school athletes to be the UChoose Student-Athlete of the Week for October 3, 2016. Please show your support for Alexis by going to the following link and casting your vote. Thanks!
http://cptvsports.org/vote-uchoose-student-athlete-week-october-3-2016/
Another Chance to Meet Our Boys in the Community
The Blue Knights Soccer team will continue its support for the Southington Soccer Alumni booth at the Apple Harvest Festival next weekend (10/7 – 10/9). Funds raised by the Southington Alumni booth are used to support the Southington High School Soccer program. The boys have a great time working in the booth and allows for another opportunity with the special connection that they have with their alumni. Please stop by and support the booth and meet some of the boys that put in the hard work to that represent our town on the soccer field.
Pancake Breakfast to Benefit Blue Knights Soccer
On Sunday October 9th, there will be a Pancake Breakfast at Applebee’s in Plainville from 8am – 10am to support the Southington High School soccer program. Members of the soccer team will be serving breakfast to all of their guests. Tickets are available from any player in the program and will also be available at the Southington Soccer Alumni booth at the Apple Harvest Festival.
We are still looking for someone to cover the JV games If you would like to provide highlights from the JV game, please send me an email at dzegzdryn@cox.net