It’s hard enough to try and negotiate the 100 plus yards of real estate, kicking a soccer ball through a purposeful defense willing to sell out for a wicked collision along the journey.
Add in a 20 to 30 mph cross wind and it puts in place a whole new set of circumstances to overcome.
Wednesday’s neighboring battle on the soccer field between the Ansonia and Seymour boys turned into a whirlwind affair as blustery conditions hampered both teams trying to maintain possession.
Ansonia (5 – 3) used a penalty goal in the first half to gain the momentum over the 3 – 2‑2 Wildcats and went up by a two goal margin with 10:37 to go before they held on for a 2 – 1 victory.
Seymour held a 16 – 7 advantage with shots on goal, but a majority of them got caught up in the wind curling around the post wide or sailing well over the top of the cross bar.
The Wildcats had a wide open net in the early going but Ansonia senior keeper Chris Futschick recovered to make the save of the game. Seymour came charging into the box and Futschick punched the shot away before tumbling to the turf after colliding with the Seymour attacker.
The senior keeper scrambled to his feet and dove on the loose ball inches from the opening of the net. That play provided a spark in the Ansonia defense as they held the Wildcats scoreless in the first half.
“Albert (Kwaskiewicz) and Steve (Fiallos) who is only a freshman did a good job out in front,” said Futschick.
“I should not have let that first ball get by me but I recovered and made the save. It seemed to really pump the team up after we held them out and once we got the lead we gained confidence.”
At 22:08 left in the first half Seymour was called for a penalty in the box and that led to the Chargers first goal of the game. Javier Arguello wound up taking the penalty kick inside the box and beat Seymour keeper Mike Breault to the far post for a 1 – 0 lead.
The Wildcats came right back looking to get back into it as Jeremy Kershaw directed a crossing pass up field to Louis Krohelski. Ryan Maher got open over the middle but slipped on the grass and the lead pass was retrieved by Ansonia.
Seymour had a corner opportunity but the inbounds pass was blown into the side of the net and another scoring chance came up empty.
Frustration began to set in as Kershaw received a yellow card when his kick up the field caught Stanley Jean-Baptiste in the ribs. With the Cats biggest scoring threat on the sidelines Ansonia was able to hang on to the 1 – 0 advantage.
“We talked about spreading the field at halftime,” said Futschick. “As seniors we have never beaten Seymour and we knew what this meant to our season. We knew if we put that second goal in it would be over, the way we were playing defense.”
The Wildcats came out in the second half looking to put some pressure on the Chargers. Eric Gorzelaney and Anthony Valverde stuck with the Seymour attackers not letting them get comfortable with their shot as the Ansonia defense kicked it up another notch.
Ansonia wasn’t getting a lot of opportunities as the clung to a 1 – 0 lead. Mike Savrine, Eric Parmelle and Hannon led the Seymour defensive unit to keep Ansonia off the board.
At 12:14 to play Kershaw took it upon himself and got it by a triple team into the corner. After the failed touchdown attempt Ansonia took full-advantage adding to the lead.
With 10:37 left Gorzelany booted a direct kick from 40 yards out into the corner of the box and Jean-Baptiste was there to stick it into the net for a 2 – 0 advantage.
Seymour went on the attack as Walter Podgorski went on a run past three Ansonia defenders but when he approached the box Steve Fiallos took it away to stop the threat at the 6:45 mark.
With 3:08 to play Kershaw finally rang one up for Seymour but it was too little to late as Ansonia is now within one win of matching last years six win mark with eight games to play.
“The difference this year is heart,” said Futschick. “We know we can make the NVL tournament and we want to go all the way in the states. We believe in each other and this is certainly a big win coming in here and holding off Seymour.”
Up next for the Chargers is a battle with Derby at home on Friday at 4 p.m. The Wildcats are back at it on Friday when they host Holy Cross.
