The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
VVS scores pair of late goals to defeat Oneida
Aaron Duchene scored in the 71st minute for the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill boys soccer team against Oneida on Monday and Calin Maguire added an insurance goal in a 2-0road victory for the Red Devils.
ONEIDA >> Vernon-Verona-Sherrill senior Aaron Duchene had what could be his last chance to score a goal in a boys soccer match against Oneida on Monday night in the only regular season meeting between the rival teams this season.
He made it count, surprising himself in the process.
The midfielder’s attempted cross in the 71st minute curled in towards the goal, over keeper Jarod Ripper’s head and into the net for the first goal of a 2-0 Red Devils’ victory.
“I was thinking to cross it and then after I shot it I realized that it was curling in so I just thought ‘go in, go in, go in,’” Duchene said. “I felt great. I’ve always wanted to score against Oneida since they’re our closest rival so it felt amazing.”
VVS’ two late goals spoiled a tremendous effort by Ripper, who stopped 14 shots for the hosts. His counterpart in the Red Devils goal, Andrew Gowans, made four saves in the shutout victory.
The rivalry match also took on a new twist this fall, with first-year Oneida coach Mike Blair taking on his alma mater and his former coach Frank Mitchell.
“It was nice to see coach Blair,” said Mitchell. “We saw Oneida over the summer and they’ve improved a thousand percent from the summer. He’s got a nice squad going together. He’s doing a nice job. I’d like to see them finish out strong and maybe do some damage in sectionals.”
Blair’s squad couldn’t quite find a way to get him a victory against his high school coach. Oneida had a pair of scoring chances come up empty in the early going, once when Gowans grabbed a through ball in front of two oncoming attackers and another when Jordan O’Connell had a break down the right side but lost the ball out of bounds before he could send a cross into the box.
Ripper, however, kept his team in the match. His best save of the first half came in the 32nd minute when he dove to his right and trapped a shot by Jack Collmer. Ripper made three more saves in the closing minutes of the half and a header by VVS’ Francesco Spoletini on a free kick from Evan Chaires went just wide of the near post in the 40th minute, keeping the match scoreless going into halftime.
“We had to keep our composure and I think we did,” said Mitchell. “We were patient. We knew we’d get opportunities to score.”
Those opportunities would continue to come in the second half. Ripper made another tremendous diving save in the 66thminute and caught a free kick from the edge of the penalty box by Spoletini in the 70th. The Red Devils would quickly reclaim the ball and Calin Maguire found Duchene deep in Oneida’s end of the field along the right sideline. His kick into the box curled perfectly over Ripper and into the goal for a 1-0 VVS lead.
“We didn’t start off how we wanted to,” said Duchene. “We started really slow and then progressively we got a lot better. We got the goal - we got two goals - and we won.”
Oneida’s only chance to equalize came on a free kick three minutes later. Casey Rich sent the ball in and it ended up with Jared George, who fired a shot wide of the near post.
Duchene and Maguire again teamed up to give VVS an insurance goal in the 78th. This time Duchene found Maguire, again on the right side, and Maguire fired a shot off the far post that bounced into the goal, putting the Red Devils ahead 2-0 in the final minutes.
“I’m happy with our play, very happy,” said Mitchell. “Our patience paid off. Aaron put a nice ball in and then Calin put the exclamation point on the game. Very happy, very pleased.”