Featured Games Week 9
Boys
Surf 2008 State Sky vs 2008 Juventus Recap
Our Boys 2008 Sky team travelled to Taunton on their final match day to face 08 Juventus. Our boys started off slow, conceding an early goal off a freekick, which caught the squad off guard. Surf then began to find their foot in the game, creating several promising opportunities, especially from wide areas. The boys went into halftime down 0-1, but displayed a promising half of soccer.
Coach Matt made a tactical change at halftime by switching the formation to 3-5-2 in order to get more numbers up and put pressure on Juventus’ backline. This change proved to be successful as Ryan Rogers finally found the back of the net for Surf from a beautiful finish in the bottom right corner. The rest of the half was relatively even, with both teams battling for every inch in order to gain an advantage. The game-leading goal came from Juventus, unfortunately, from a counter-attack with 5 minutes left on the clock. Our Sky team was not finished, though. With the team showing mental toughness and throwing numbers forward, we were able to find the back of the net one more time through Hugo De Saint-Aignan in the final minute of the game.
“I am really proud of how the boys responded after going down twice, especially so late in the game. Not only that, they displayed some really great football. Their hard work this Fall definitely paid out in the long run, and this last minute result was a nice reward for the boys”, said Coach Matt. Due to the critical last minute goal and overall solid performance, the POTM award for this featured game goes to Hugo De Saint-Aignan. Congrats to Hugo and the entire 08 Sky team on a great first season together.
Girls
Surf 2009 State Navy vs NE Navigators Recap
This past Sunday saw league leaders, Surf 09 State Navy, take on the New England Navigators in the final game of the season. It was clear from the start that our girls were determined to get on the front foot and put this game away early against a very competitive side. 09 Navy controlled the tempo of the game and were on the front foot for the majority of play. Despite not finding the back of the net in the first half, our girls in black managed to create several dangerous, which they just could not yet capitalize on.
That all changed only 5 minutes into the second half with a great finish from Ray Garzone after a well worked passage of play. This was quickly followed by a second goal from Audrey Grandinetti who got on the end of a quality cross into the box from Garzone. At this point our girls were buzzing and could have scored another few if not for some great goalkeeping. As anticipated, the game turned physical and Surf was able to keep their composure and continue to create chances throughout the second half. Against the run of play we conceded a harsh penalty for an unintentional hand ball in the box, which ultimately led to a goal for the Navigators.
Our girls in black responded positively by immediately scoring a beautiful individual goal through player of the match Cecily Baron. Cecily picked up a loose ball and drove into the box before calmly finishing in the right corner to kill the game. Baron was tireless all night in central midfield winning her 1v1 battles and driving the team forward with her penetrating runs and passing range. Congratulations to Cecily and the rest of the 09 Navy group for a fantastic season!
