When you’re two games into the season and haven’t given up a goal, there are not a whole lot of negatives to focus on.
Still, for the Seymour boys soccer team, they were in unfamiliar territory going into Tuesday night’s game against Wolcott.
Allow me to explain:
Last Friday, against Torrington, the Wildcats were held scoreless for the first time in a regular season game since Oct. 25, 2006 — that’s a span of 37 regular season games.
In fact, since 2005, when Seymour was the Class M state runner-up, success has been a trademark of Wildcat soccer.
In the last three seasons under head coach Joe Perrucci, Seymour has posted a regular season mark in the NVL of 49 – 4 scoring 205 goals and allowing just 27 markers.
So, the 0 – 0 tie last Friday with Torrington may have lit a fire in the offense. It certainly looked that way on Tuesday night against Wolcott.
The Game
Jeremy Kershaw led the assault, scoring a hat trick as Seymour throttled the Wolcott Eagles by a 6 – 1 margin improving to 2 – 0‑1 on the season.
It took the Wildcats just 36 seconds to get the Eagles attention, when Walter Podgorski charged in from the left side of the box and got one over the head of the Wolcott keeper.
“We had a couple of kids come into this game ready to put the ball in the net,” Perrucci said.
“I wouldn’t call the game with Torrington a wake up call by any means. They are an excellent team and we spent most of the game back on defense.”
“We didn’t get the same kind of chances that we had tonight against Wolcott. That was Jeremy’s second hat trick of the season and our senior keeper Mike Breault was coming off the most amazing game of his career against Torrington.”
It was evident early on that Seymour had come to play, regardless if they felt they had something to prove after the scoreless tie on Friday. The passing game wasn’t really crisp but there was a definite determination in their gait.
After nearly twenty minutes of pushing and shoving to gain possession, Seymour was still a bit anxious, missing lead passes into the Wolcott zone.
Then they put the Eagles on notice when Kershaw beat his defender in the box and fired a shot to the far post that eluded the Wolcott keeper Andrew McNamee for a 2 – 0 advantage with 11:21 to go in the half.
Minutes later Kershaw again was pressing the issue. This time he spotted Louis Krohelski breaking through the middle and the point blank blast caught the Wolcott keeper flatfooted for a 3 – 0 lead with 8:27 left in the half.
“There’s still a lot more work to be done,” Perucci warned. “It’s been a long time since we started six kids, sophomores and below, on the varsity.”
“Sometimes it’s a kick and go kind of game and we need to get more consistency in what we are doing. We need to perform more as a team instead of individuals.”
When Wolcott did manage to bring the ball within striking distance, Mike Savrine and Eric Parmelle showed a real blue-collar effort on defense inside the box. Ryan Maher and Brian Biondi were turning everything around at midfield as Seymour upped the advantage early in the second half.
At 32:30 Kershaw outmaneuvered his defender just outside the box and took aim at the far post. The shot went across the front of the goal and rippled the net just under the crossbar to open up a 4 – 0 advantage.
Breault (seven saves) stopped several direct kicks, but, with 21:44 to play, a controversial call put Wolcott on the board. Chris Hannon deflected a shot that glanced off his shoulder but the referee ruled a hand ball and the Eagles were awarded a penalty kick from inside the box.
Jon Ramirez cashed in for the Eagles to make it a 4 – 1 game. That only got Seymour back on track as Mike Doyle took a pass from Jeff Orts and took off for the Wolcott goal. Doyle out raced three Wolcott defenders into the corner.
McNamee came out to defend and collided with Doyle, who kept his poise — and the possession — ripping it into the open net at 12:58 to play for a commanding 5 – 1 advantage.
Patrick Rapuano, James Pisano and Claudio Munizapo closed off the middle and held the ball in the Wolcott end as Seymour was looking for the final salvo.
At 8:12 left in the game Kershaw sprinted down the left side cut over the middle and slammed one into the back of the net for the 6 – 1 final margin.
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