Roma vs. Juventus

On a beautiful day on the south field in Battery Park City, the Downtown Soccer League’s AS Roma and Juventus kicked off their season with a well-played game. Brody Sharoff (Juventus) controlled the ball well on the AS Roma half of the field for the first minutes of play, but was unable to keep it from Nicholas Leong, who dribbled and shot long for Roma’s first goal of the season. Roma kept the pressure on, with consecutive shots on goal by Tyler Rohan and Dario Flores, but the combination of Wyatt Accardi’s tough defense and Nicole LaGreca in goal prevented them from scoring. Athena Karavasilis also helped defend the Juventus goal with strong kicks, but the magic duo of Dario Flores to Jacob Roter brought the score to two. James Carney answered with another goal soon after with an assist from Jacob Roter. Juventus continued to feed the ball to Brody Sharoff and Wyatt Accardi, but the team couldn’t get past Elias Griffin in goal. Dario Flores once again approached the goal with a blast that was blocked by Nicole LaGreca, but he was able to boot the rebound over her head for the last goal of the first half. Both teams sought out shade and water during the break, but it was maybe the hot sun that slowed the action a bit in the second half. Roma’s Katie Higgins and Elias Griffin tried their luck on offense, but Wyatt Accardi in goal made several good saves, until Dario Flores did his trademark cut-back and scored an unassisted goal. Gianna LaGreca played great defense, clearing the ball away from danger. Brody Sharoff took advantage and dribbled downfield again, but Matthew Levine’s brick wall of defense brought him down. Roma’s Gabriel Colon and Anthony Miguez showed great hustle throughout the game. Liam Clayton (Juventus) also hawked the ball, but Roma’s Margaret McGovern-Matthews and Romy Macari’s defense, plus James Carney in goal, proved too much for the Juventus team.