SHS Boys soccer posts two W’s
Published on November 6th, 2002
STONEHAM, MA - The Spartan soccer team has taken the entire season to develop into a cohesive and complimentary unit, but they seem to have begun to develop a calling card for their victories. The Stoneham boys jump all over their opponent to score the first goal, and then throw everything, including the kitchen sink, bathroom sink and garden hose, at their rival until they are victorious.
In both postseason victories, Stoneham notched the first goal, and then glided to victories over an overmatched Swamspscott, 6-1, on Sunday and a feisty Austin Prep team, 4-3, on Tuesday afternoon.
The latest win sets up a Thursday night game against the winner of Bedford and Bishop Fenwick.
“Our seniors are really coming up big for us during tournament time,” said Carino after the Austin Prep. “We really had a lot of good offensive chances against their offsides trap, and probably should have scored more goals. That certainly would have taken some of the drama out of it.”
The game actually came down to a huge penalty kick late in the second half. A corner kick soared into the middle of the Austin Prep end, and Middlesex League MVP Jason Ring connected for a vicious header attempt. The ball then ricocheted off the crossbar and bounded away from the net, as junior Billy Gardner gave chase. Gardner was taken down by an Austin Prep defender during a scrum for the ball.
Sophomore Mike DeSantis was awarded a penalty kick, and placed the ball past the left -side dive of the Austin Prep goalkeeper with less than 10 minutes to play.
A pair of diving saves by senior keeper Dan D’Ambrosio helped secure the lead, but things looked dicey when the steady senior had trouble tracking down a long shot. The ball bounced off D’Ambrosio’s grasp, but defensive whiz Steve Salerno arrived in seconds to clear the ball from the Stoneham end.
“We really had a lot of shots in the first half that we should have converted,” said Carino. “But they were able to make the big plays when the game was on the line at the end.”
“I keep telling these players that the teams just get better and better as we get deeper in the tourney,” added Carino. “So we really have to seize our opportunities. They (Austin Prep) only had a couple of good scoring opportunities, and they made perfect shots during them.”
The defensive work of Salerno, Kennedy, sophomore Tom Pappa and Steve Mahoney helped limit AP’s opportunities by playing a tough defense despite the absence of Brian DeVirgilio (ankle) and Kevin Quigley (broken foot), as well as the first-half yellow card given to Jeff Kirkland.
Ring opened up the scoring 1:35 into the first-half with a rush up the middle from a Mahoney pass. The Spartans doubled their scoring pleasure with the first of Mike DeSantis’ two goals (assisted by Ring).
Austin Prep forward Kevin Duran then halved the lead with a goal of his own at 8:08, but Mahoney tallied Stone-ham’s third goal at 21:22.
The first-half ended with a 3-1 Stoneham advantage, but Duran scored his second on a bouncing shot at 2:16.
Kirkland, Chris Moran, Ring and DeSantis kept the heat on both the Austin defense and goalkeeper, but couldn’t turn nifty passing into goals.
The solid passing game and their blazing foot speed finally paid off with the DeSantis penalty kick to make it 4-2. A late Austin goal made it a one goal game, but neither the Austin players nor the verbal toxic waste spouted by the Austin Prep coaching staff could unnerve the Spartans.
Stoneham started their tourney run with a solid victory over Swampscott at home on Tuesday afternoon. The Spartans scored first on a Steve Mahoney score, assisted by Moran, with 5:00 left in the first half.
The Spartans went into the half with a 1-0 lead, but opened things up a bit in the second half. Mike DeSantis tallied an unassisted score at 3:12 of the second half, but Swampscott’s Brian Taylor scored to make it 2-1.
The Spartans answered with four straight goals from Billy Gardner, Mark DeSantis, and a pair from Ring.
“I really don’t know a tremendous amount about both Bedford or Bishop Fenwick at this point,” said Carino. “I do know that Bedford comes from a league very similar to the Middlesex League, and that Bishop Fenwick beat this Austin Prep team, 6-0, earlier in the season...Whatever that means.”
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