On the afternoon of September 30th, the boys in green set out to step on the pitch against the visiting Rhinos of Taft. The soccer gods brought rain and wind making it an exciting day for a DA soccer match.
The starting eleven for Deerfield consisted of Andrews and Kelleher at forward, O’Connell, Rapoza, O. Fair, and Bucyukundi in the midfield, Ferrari, Michaud, Pitcher, and DesLaureis as the backs, with Gerber in goal.
The first half was a battle. Nick Garfinkel (’16) played a solid first half generating great chances for the big green to get in on offense, while Jackson Pitcher (’19), in the center back position, contributed in limiting Taft’s scoring chances, with a couple of huge saves from keeper Tim Gerber (’17). With both teams battling hard, the first 45 ended at zero a piece.
Deerfield came out a little slow in the second half conceding an early goal in the 46th minute of play. Mthabisi Tshuma (#11) received a ground cross from Matteo Mangiardi (#10), in which he finished to the bottom corner of the night, propelling Taft ahead 1-0 in the game. Not much later in the half, the Taft winger played in a cross which Tim Gerber played well parrying it out of his area, but not without the cost of taking an elbow to the head from a Taft forward. Gerber was forced to leave the game with a minor injury. Jack Wood (’17) stepped in to take Gerber’s spot in goal. In Wood’s first few minutes he made some big saves, keeping DA in the contest.
Not much later, in the 54th minute, Mangiardi (#10) dribbled into the box finishing cross-cage for Taft’s second tally of the day. The boys in green continued to fight behind the leadership of Brendan O’Connell (’16), who played a standout game at center defensive midfield. Although DA had some good chances down the stretch they were unable to capitalize and fell 2-0 to the Big Red from Taft.
Deerfield travels to Kent this Saturday in hopes of redeeming themselves against another solid opponent. Lets’ Go DA! (Submitted by Brian Davis – 2017)
Highlights;
Jack Wood (Deerfield) came in relief of an injury to the starting goalie, and had his first minutes in goal and made two terrific saves
Brendan O’Connell (Deerfield – midfield) played a terrific match in defending the middle of the field
Nick Garfinkel (Deerfield – forward) had some good moments on offense