By Debbie Cook
It may have been the first day of the spring soccer season, but Mother Nature did not agree, delivering instead a cold and windy day at Brennan field in Middle Village Queens, where the DUSC U-12 (under 12) A team faced off against their chief rivals from BW Gottschee. DUSC Coach Luis Cediel and assistant Manny Roche had come prepared for a tough game against the number-one ranked team in the division, which in their undefeated fall season had only allowed three goals. Both Gottschee and DUSC would be playing with only 12 players, allowing for just one substitute each, making conditions even tougher.
With the wind at their backs in the first half, DUSC dominated the game, but couldn’t find the back of the net. A free kick early in the first half taken by Hector Roche almost resulted in a goal, but the Gottschee goalkeeper managed to deflect the ball. Alex Hryhorowych tried for the rebound, but the ball went wide. John Vasquez nearly scored on a breakaway late in the first half, but again, the ball went wide.
Solid play in the midfield by Roddo DiStefano, Hector Sanchez, Alex Hryhorowych, Jack Momeyer and Justin Montero, combined with excellent defense by Fanis Ioannidis (U-19 Pavlos’s brother), Marcello Torrone, Paul Sanchez and Ernesto Navarette, managed to keep Gottschee at bay, resulting in a scoreless first half.
In the second half, Gottschee tried to use the wind advantage to turn on the heat, and while they got off a few good shots, none got past goalkeeper Andrew Cook, who turned every shot into a routine save.
The DUSC midfield repeatedly broke up Gottschee’s attempts to control the ball, creating several quick counterattacks for DUSC’s offense. One sequence of precision passes between Roddo DiStefano and Travis Allen finally made their way to Hector Roche, who scored a brilliant goal from a wide-open spot with 10 minutes to go in the second half.
Less than a minute later, Vasquez took off on another breakaway run, with Gottschee defenders hot on his heels. Vasquez beat the Gottschee keeper and managed to strike an off-balance kick. The Gottschee defense raced to try to clear the ball, but Roche outran them, and slammed the ball into the net, for his second goal of the day.
With a substantial amount of time left in the game, Gottschee mounted a furious comeback attempt, but DUSC’s solid defense and hard tackling held fast, and the young boys delivered a big win for Downtown United, alongside their big brothers whose championship trophy is so large it may not fit in the club showcase!
