East Granby and Granby Memorial Duel to a 0-0 Draw

The boys soccer game Thursday afternoon between East Granby High and Granby Memorial High in Granby proved to be the essence of a double-overtime scoreless draw in the rough and tumble North Central Connecticut Conference.

Neither team got exactly what it wanted, but they also didn’t leave totally disappointed, either.

East Granby (5-3-1), the smaller but quicker side, earned a tie against a Bears’ team that had defeated NCCC title contenders Somers and, most recently, Suffield on Monday, on its home field this season.

As such, Crusaders’ head coach Chris Pettee was far from disappointed from the result.

“I thought it was a great effort,” Pettee said. “We played 90 minutes including overtime extremely well. We created opportunities. We had as many scoring opportunities as we possibly could against a very good defense. I was very pleased today.They pack it pretty well. They defend fantastic and they have good size. We’re pretty tiny. But we spread them out a bit, we got opportunities, I thought we were pretty patient. Against a team like this you’re not going to get many opportunities.”

On the Granby (4-3-2) bench, head coach Dave Emery was less pleased about his team being held off the scoring ledger, but found it hard to quibble with his defense holding the high-octane Crusaders’ offense scoreless.

“We’re just really struggling in terms of putting enough pressure up front,” Emery said. “We’re not blessed with a lot of speed. East Granby to [its] credit, it plays aggressively. They close you down quickly. They moved a little faster than we did. …  But I thought we did a nice job [in back]. Not many teams shut them out.”

Both teams spent the majority of the game exchanging possession, encountering stiff opposition from their opponent’s respective back line and unable to convert on fairly mild to warm scoring chances.

In the first half, Granby’s Peter Brodeur, before he was shifted from forward to midfield, sailed a shot over the crossbar in the 21st minute.

East Granby’s Sean Rosenberger responded five minutes later by rolling a shot through the box, but wide of the goal.

The Crusaders’ Noah Fersch sent a cheeky chip into the box in the 31st minute that was cleared by the bigger, stronger Granby defense.

On the other end of the field, Bears midfielder Carlin Champion sent an exquisite cross into a threatening position, only teammate Mike Noyes was unable to convert the header in the 34th minute.

The best scoring chance for East Granby came in the 55th minute, when Andres Restrepo had a clear, point blank shot at goal only to be denied by Granby’s outstanding goalkeeper David Gottschalk (7 saves).

Granby’s best chance came in the 72nd minute off a corner that Dan Clark walked in on goal, only to see his subsequent shot carom off the near post.

In the first overtime, Champion connected with Noyes, whose header nestled safely in the arms of Crusaders’ goalie Tyler Fricke (6 saves).

“I thought we had a tremendous game from Peter Brodeur,” Emery said. “Mike Noyes had an excellent game. Danny Clark, the problem there is I need him all over the field. I just told his dad that I’d like to have some clones of him.”

Neither team could convert in a frantic second half, and the game ended in a draw.

“They were on a high after beating a very good Suffield team,” Pettee said. “We were at their place I think we prepared very well. We gave a great effort. A couple knocks here, a couple knocks there and we could have [won]. Sweeper Brian Waterlond had a great game and [forwards] Restrepo and Andrew Nigro worked well combination. Everyone gave a great effort.”

As for Granby, Emery was still concerned about the lack of offensive output (one goal in three games this week) from his front line.

“The difficult part is we’ve tied Avon and we beat Somers and Suffield and you go, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s quite an accomplishment,’ and it is,” Emery said. “We’ve played some excellent games there, but we’ve had trouble with teams that are a little quicker than we are, but aren’t quite as skilled and we’re just struggling with that aspect. … Scoring in this game is a funny thing. The same kid the next day give the same chances can convert a number of them. We have four, five, six of those today and we convert zero. … [Still] We’re well-positioned to make a run in the tournament.”

Both teams’ next games are on Tuesday, as East Granby squares off against Avon, while Granby is scheduled to face Windsor Locks.