Staples Advances to FCIAC Finals

Throughout the season, Staples’ boys soccer coach Dan Woog would tell his team if it let in zero, all it would need is one goal to win the game.

This was certainly true Monday night as Staples defeated Greenwich 1-0 at Taft Field in Fairfield Ludlowe to advance to the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) finals for the second straight year.

Three minutes into the second half, Staples’ senior defenseman Mikey Fitzgerald headed junior midfielder Mikey Scott’s cross pass past the diving Greenwich goalkeeper to give his team a lead it would never relinquish.

“It felt great to score,” Fitzgerald said. “We made it a point all season to defend our title and I am happy that tonight’s win helped us get back to the finals.”

Woog was impressed by Fitzgerald’s timely goal.

“He has been doing that for us all year long," Woog said. “We have always given him the green light to jump into the play and make things happen on the other side of the ball."

After the goal was scored, Staples did what they had done throughout the entire game – play solid defensively. The team’s forwards and midfielders broke up passes, clogged up the defensive zone and regained possession while the defensemen did their job of protecting goalkeeper Michael McCarthy, a senior.

“Our defense did a great job tonight," McCarthy said. “My defense and I worked on communication all season long and it was great to see it pay off on a night like tonight.”

The team’s defense had been stingy all season, allowing just eight goals in 16 games.

“We take a tremendous amount of pride in our team’s defense,” Woog said. “I always told our team that if they could get one goal every game, our defense would hold up and shut the other team down. That is exactly what we did tonight.”

During the first half, both teams traded scoring chances but came away empty as both McCarthy and his counterpart on Greenwich, Sebastian Camacho, did everything they could to keep their team in the game. Senior Captain Mike White missed wide from 20 yards out just three minutes into the game and again missed the same spot with just over 20 minutes to go.

“We are trying to score more goals,” said junior defenseman Frankie Bergonzi. “Luckily, we know our defense can hold up.” 
 
And hold up is exactly what the team did to Greenwich’s talented forward, senior Kenny Doublette. Staples denied him any ample amounts of offensive room while throwing him off his game.

“His lateral movement is great,” McCarthy admitted. “He tested us early but for the most part, we were able to shut him and the rest of his team down tonight.” 

On Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Norwalk’s Testa Field, Staples will either take on Central High School or Ridgefield High School in the FCIAC finals. Woog certainly believes that his team deserves to be there.

“We have an extremely balanced team,” Woog said. “We have an excellent goalkeeper, a really tough defense, two maestro’s at midfield and a well-balanced attack. These parts of our game gave us the right to play for the title again.”