Colonial clash ends in tie
La Salle goal with 1:40 left in regulation earns draw with Schalmont
More often than not, two teams leaving the soccer pitch deadlocked is a result each would lament about afterward. Thursday night, the Schalmont and La Salle boys’ soccer teams both departed the field feeling relatively pleased with the 2-2 Colonial Council tie they fought 100 minutes to achieve.
Sure, the Sabres and Cadets each know they squandered some opportunities to earn a victory. Both also understand they could have easily walked away with a loss after 80 minutes of regulation play and two 10 minute overtime sessions.
The Colonial Council is one of six area soccer leagues to push play from the normal fall season into a Fall Season II scenario presently being contested because of the coronavirus pandemic. Thursday’s contest featured end-to-end action, superlative play from several different sources on both teams and enough confounding moments to make it a game each squad will surely remember.
“As far as games go, I thought that was a really good game. It had its ups and downs, for sure,” La Salle sophomore striker Luke Micklas said.
“That was definitely exciting,” La Salle coach Matt Michaud
said. “From the get-go, I thought we might put three or four in early. We didn’t capitalize . ... In this situation, we learned and it did not hurt us. By the same token, we had so many chances. If one of those goes in, it is a different story. We are learning and growing.”
Schalmont (2-0-1 overall, 2-0-1 league), playing without two injured starters, led 2-1 late in regulation play, but a couple of miscues in the back proved costly. La Salle forced overtime with 1:40 left in the second half when sophomore Alex Rotondi knocked in a corner kick from senior captain Marco Pantoja at the left post.
“We talked at the second mask break about not making
mental errors and gave them a corner they should not have been given and then left a guy unmarked,” Schalmont coach Vito Urbano said. “It feels like a loss, but I also see an improvement.”
In the first overtime, Micklas — who opened the scoring in the first half with his first goal of the season when he side-stepped Schalmont goalie Christian Tortorici — found himself with a chance to win it as he broke away from two Schalmont defenders. Tortorici started charging forward and knocked the ball away from the Cadets’ striker.
“I was definitely surprised,” Micklas said regarding Tortorici’s decision to sprint toward him. “He had been playing to the left the whole time. That time, he went right.”
“Saved the game,” Urbano said. “He is getting better and better at that. He made a few mistakes in the first half and I got on him for that. The reason we have a tie, he completely saved us.”
“Clearly, it was a game-saving challenge by their goalkeeper,” Michaud said. “You can’t give him enough credit for that move. It is a split-second decision. Not only did he go, he had the presence of mind to stay low. If he was high, Luke would have burned him. It was a smart play. It was a gutsy play and it saved the game for them.”
La Salle (1-1-1) opened its season with a 3-2 loss in overtime against Ichabod Crane. The Cadets watched Schalmont defender Paul Brosious tie the game 1-1 with 15:21 left in the opening half when he knocked in a deft corner kick from Sam Parisi. Daniel Tommasone hit the left post with a shot just before halftime for the Sabres.
Tommasone helped give his team a 2-1 lead with a beautiful through ball that teammate Troy Leonard put away with 31:59 remaining in regulation play.
“We came out strong in the first half. In the second half, we didn’t really have it, but we picked it back up again,” Micklas said.
Twice, Schalmont senior defender Tyler Pepicelli cleared the ball away from imminent danger in front of the goal when Tortorici was out of position playing a previous shot attempt.
“He had probably the best game he has had in a Schalmont jersey,” Urbano said of Pepicelli. “Not only that, he was winning the ball and making great passes to set up our wide players. We were generating offense from his work. All around, he had an excellent game.”