Staples Soccer Marches On

According to Staples soccer head coach Dan Woog, you never know what will happen when it comes to penalty kicks.

Woog witnessed that first hand Thursday as his team defeated 21st-ranked Newtown High School on penalty kicks to close out a 3-2 victory on its home field.

“We gained a lot of experience in this game,” said junior Mikey Scott. “This was a big challenge that we had to overcome.”

Each team took five penalty kicks and it went back and forth until the fifth shot when Staples’ senior Alan Reiter scored and Newtown’s junior Josh Engler kicked his shot over the net.

“We have had lots of championship teams that have gone through penalty kicks,” said Woog. “It really is a crapshoot but our team had a strong mentality and did not panic.”

At the end of the first half, it seemed like Staples had the game in control with a 2-0 lead. With less than 10 minutes to go, senior Mike White dribbled the ball to the middle in the offensive zone and placed his shot into the left corner of the goal to give his team a 1-0 lead.

Just over seven minutes later, senior Andrew McNair sent a cross pass over to senior Matteo Marzoli, who headed the ball into the goal to put his team up 2-0 heading into the second half.

In the second half, Newtown turned it on and managed to come back and tie the game. With less than 27 minutes to go, Newtown senior Adam Buccino headed senior Eric Thornberg’s cross pass Staples goalkeeper, senior Michael McCarthy.

With less than nine minutes to go, Newtown tied it up when Newtown sophomore Joshua Barrett kicked one from 30 yards out, had it deflect off of Engler’s shoulder near the box and past a stunned McCarthy.

“We had trouble putting them away,” admitted Woog. “That is a credit to Newtown team that is very good and well-coached.”

Staples had an array of scoring opportunities after Newtown tied it but they either kicked the ball wide, missed the net, or were stopped by senior Newtown goalkeeper Zachary Dlouhy.

“We knew Newtown would give us a game,” said Woog. “We definitely learned something from this game.”

When the teams ended regulation knotted up at 2-2, they ended up playing two 10-minute overtimes where neither team scored. Staples had plenty of chances but had trouble finishing.

“We had a lot of opportunities,” admitted Woog. “We just did not mix it up enough.”

The game then went onto penalty kicks where each team strutted their stuff. McCarthy got the chance to go first and scored on his opportunity. However, he was not able to stop Newtown’s first shot.

In the second frame, White was robbed by Dloughy while Newtown senior Jeff DiNicola scored on his chance.

In the third frame, Marzoli scored for Staples while Newtown senior Sam Hoagland hit the post. And in the fourth frame, both teams scored as junior Gregory Gudis scored for Staples and senior Evan Kennedy scored for Newtown.

Reiter  scored in the fifth frame to give his team a 4-3 lead in penalty kicks and then watched Newtown kick their final chance over the net, giving Staples the victory.

“The penalty kicks were a real credit to our guys,” said Woog. “They came through under pressure.”

Staples will play the quarterfinal game  at 2 p.m. Monday at Amity High.