Following a Winless 2010, Boys Soccer Heading to CIAC Championship

After a year’s absence due to a winless 2010 season, the Amity boys soccer team qualified for the upcoming CIAC state tournament by knocking off East Haven 4-0. The Spartans also played Southern Connecticut Conference Housatonic Division rival Shelton to a scoreless tie and bowing to Hamden 1-0. Heading to Wednesday’s regular season finale at West Haven (7:30 PM at Ken Strong Stadium), Coach Mike Marchitto’s booters carry a 4-5-6 record.

“We played well against Shelton and took them out of their game but couldn’t get the ball into the back of the net,” Marchitto said. “I was happy with our play. We did a great job. It was a great team effort, but unfortunately, we just couldn’t score. As the head coach, it’s my job to figure out a way for us to score.”

 The 8-2-3 Gaels outshot Amity10-6 and Spartan goalie Noah Safian recoded four saves.

The Black and Gold knocked home three first half goals against East Haven and then cruised through a solid second half to qualify for States. Joe Guerra (with help from Mayer) opened the scoring with 29 minutes, 6 seconds gone in the first half. Austin Duffy (from Sam Stack) made it 2-0 at 29:06. Exactly one minute later (at 30:06) Dean Schwartz gathered in a feed from Jesse DiPietro) and beat Yellowjacket netminder, Elliott Kuzma to extend the Spartan lead to 3-0.

According to Marchitto, “East Haven worked very hard against us, but they lack our overall quality and talent. It took us about 20 minutes to get going but after that, we settled into our game. By the second half, we were able to relax and enjoy playing the game. With our lead, I was able to get everybody into the game.”

The Spartans’ final score was recorded by Rob Flanagan (assisted by Alex Neumann) at 62:53 of the second half.

The winners outshot the Easties 15-4. The netminding chores were split between Safian (who recorded 2 saves) and Valere DeMelier (who also made two stops).

The lone goal of the Hamden contest came as a result of an Amity mistake during a Green Dragon free kick with 29 minutes gone in the first half.

Marchitto said, “It’s a cardinal rule of defending free kicks that once you set up the wall, you don’t move. We violated that rule when one of our guys in the wall moved. The ball went through the hole that was created and sailed into the net. If we had not moved, Hamden (now 9-4) never would have scored.”

Despite the final outcome, Marchitto praised his team for passing and moving the ball very effectively, but then added, “We controlled play in the first half, but unfortunately, we couldn’t make a big play when we had a chance to do it. We were focused and played well together as a team. Now, we have to figure out a way to score. Hamden just held us off. ”