Naugatuck Boys Soccer Shuts Down Torrington

The Naugatuck boys soccer team continued its run through the Naugatuck Valley League with a 2-0 win over Torrington on Tuesday night at Veterans Field.

The Greyhounds improved to 11-0-3 on the season while the Raiders fell to 7-4-1.

Jason Goja scored a first half goal to put Naugatuck out on top and Tiago Martins put it away with a goal in the opening moments of the second half. Dan Bronko made five saves in between the pipes but it was the overall defensive presence that put this game in the win column.

Torrington was held without a shot on goal for the entire first half and that is hardly a recipe for success in the game of soccer. The Greyhounds have been feasting on their defensive play all season minus a bump in the road during the first week of October.

The four time defending NVL champions finished September with a 6-0 mark outscoring the opposition by a healthy 23-1 margin. Then came a three game stretch where Naugatuck won two games and tied one but the goal disparity dropped to 15 goals for Naugatuck and 12 for the opposition.

It also marked one of the biggest collapses in the Greyhounds history when they lost a 4-1 lead to Watertown and settled for a 5-5 tie. Last week Naugatuck saw a sure win go by the wayside when a last second winning goal was waved off and they had to settle for a 1-1 tie to Seymour.

Naugatuck has overcome the adversity and they are back on track looking for their fifth straight NVL title. The Greyhounds handed head coach Art Nunes career win number 250 last Friday against Holy Cross and the 15^th year coach now stands at a career record of 251-34-17 with 11 NVL titles and two state championships.

It was all business against Torrington on Tuesday with only two regular season games remaining before the NVL tournament the last week of October. Naugatuck had early chances but the shots were going wide and the passes just missed the mark.

The Greyhounds did manage to hold a significant advantage with shots on goal taking a 16-5 edge. That intensity and determination finally paid off with 13:38 to go in the first half.

Luis Carvalho used his speed to break into the Torrington zone only to have the hard hitting defense converge to take it away inside the box. Nolan Kinne made a heads up play stealing it away and ripping a shot at the post.

Torrington goal keeper John Abbott batted it away only to have Jason Goja race over and put a header on it that cleared the top of the cross bar by inches for the 1-0 advantage.

"Torrington always gives us a good battle," Nunes said. "They are a well coached team and they tried to dictate the tempo of the game."

"We played the same kind of game we played up there a few weeks back," the coach said. Control the possessions and limit their opportunities."

Marcos Soares and Mitchell Riker made their presence felt and when Torrington did manage to get it into the Greyhounds territory the defense stepped up the effort. Jack DeOliveira, Andres Jimenez and Ignasio Ponce along with Richard Mitchell found a way to keep Torrington without a shot in the first half.

Naugatuck went to its bread and butter to start the second half. Kinne controlled the action and that allowed Martins to break past two defenders. The crossing pass caught Martins on the shoe tops and he let go of a blast that split the net for a 2-0 lead.

With just 37 seconds gone in the second half Naugatuck had delivered a huge statement.

"That is a set play," Nunes said. "It's a lot like football where you get past the linebackers and in this case it's the midfielders and you try and split the defenders."

"Tiago worked it to perfection and we were able to create an opportunity and it paid off," he said.

Adam Branco, Iseque Monteiro and Jonathan Silva came on to shore up the Greyhounds attack.

The Greyhounds would not relinquish the lead as they continued to press into the zone. Torrington did manage to break into the Greyhounds end in the second half but Bronko was up for the challenge.

At the ten minute mark Bronko charged out and cut off Fred Perez trying to take it into the box. Moments later Bronko again lunged at an advance taking away a perfect Torrington opportunity.

The Raiders couldn't mount a consistent attack as Naugatuck came away with its seventh shutout of the season.

The Greyhounds will face Ansonia and Derby next week in a final tune up for the NVL tournament the last week of October.