Soccer: Clarkstown North Boys Defeat Nanuet for First Win of Season

The Clarkstown North boys soccer team took home its first win of the season Wednesday after defeating Nanuet, 6 – 1.

Both teams came out and played hard, however, Nanuet was outmatched by the Rams on both ends of the field.  The Rams were faster, more physical, and more effective as a team unit. 

In general, the skill level of their players outmatched that of the Nanuet players, though there were some exceptions.  For instance, Nanuet's Tommy Murtagh displayed some excellent dribbling and striking, scoring the only goal for his team off an assist from teammate Brendan Booth.

The disparate performances were not entirely unexpected, since this was a non-league match with Nanuet playing up against the larger Clarkstown North.

"We've got a young group, and not a lot of experience," said Nanuet Coach Peter Patrikis.  "There's a lot of guys I brought up from JV to just fill out the roster." 

Despite this, Nanuet put up an admirable effort, never giving up as they continued to play hard, rushing in an attempt to score even at the very end when victory was beyond their grasp.  Though they had trouble getting it going on offense, they were able to play some solid defense throughout much of the game.

For the Rams, Wednesday's game was an excellent improvement on their previous two losses. 

They seemed to have been able to work out many of the kinks in their system.  Their improvements both offensively and defensively centered largely on what Coach Brian Bentley had hoped for, their mental discipline in playing their positions properly and teamwork. 

"Today we seemed to move the ball better and guys were moving off the ball as well," said Bentley.  "We definitely played better as a team today, and the execution was much better."

By the 16th minute of play, the Rams had already taken the lead, 4 – 0.  They were executing well, hustling to the ball, and maintaining possession.  Despite their early lead, they did not get lackadaisical.  North continued to play fast and physical soccer as they continued to attack the Nanuet defense. 

Despite their now long, uphill battle, Nanuet was able to recover after the initial rout.  They kept North from scoring for the rest of the half, and kept better possession of the ball, however, they were unable to execute on offense.  A large part of that was thanks to the Rams excellent defense, which kept Nanuet from penetrating and thus forced them to take the longer shots at tougher angles.

To start the second half, Nanuet had the ball, however, North came out aggressive and quickly took possession.  After a short back and forth, the Rams got it into the goal area. Then it was No. 9 Alfredo Godinez who got the ball and scored his second goal of the game off a diagonal shot from the right wing to make it 5 – 0 with just three minutes elapsed in the second half.

After that, play began to get more physical as players started exchanging words over some excessive contact.  Most excessive was when one of North's players was given a red card for some harsh language after a particularly hard collision with one of Nanuet's players.  He was injured and later left the field to be tended to by a trainer.

It was with just under 30 minutes on the clock that Godinez was able to get his chance at the hat trick off a penalty kick.  Godinez fired one directly at the goalie, who went down in blocking it.  The ball bounced off and Godinez quickly ran in to bury the ball in the back of the net.

With the score now 6 – 0, neither team was able to score as they continued to battle back and forth.  With time winding down, it was Booth to Murtagh who would fire it along the goal line to make it 6 – 1, thus preventing the shutout.  This would be the final goal of the game, though both teams continued to play hard for the duration of the half.

Leading the Rams on offense were Godinez with three goals, Anthony Barbetto with two goals and one assist, Vincent Barbetto with one goal and one assist, Zach Deminno with three assists, and Robert Kcira with one assist.  The Rams' goalies had a light day of it, thanks to their team's excellent defense.  For the first half it was Josh Pleeter with five saves, and for the second it was Tyler Margolis with three saves.  For Nanuet, it was Murtagh with one goal and Booth with one assist.  Their goalie, Ben Bohlke, had a solid performance with 16 saves.

For Nanuet, this was a tough loss, though they played hard and put up a solid defensive effort against a larger school with a more competitive soccer program.  For the Rams, this was a big win, their first of the season, and a great way to conclude their week.  Their excellent all-around performance will hopefully fuel their confidence and drive to win against a challenging lineup next week.

"I'm hoping it gets the guys hungry for that," said Bentley of taking the early lead and his team's dominant performance.  "We dictated the pace of play a bit more and we could still improve in some areas, but, all in all, I liked what I saw today."