Amity retains Housatonic title

Written by Pasquale DeMatteo, Correspondent
Tuesday, 27 October 2009 14:23

The mission was simple, and the execution difficult when the Amity High boys soccer team earned its second straight SCC Housatonic Division title with a 1-0 victory over Shelton High at Finn Stadium on Monday night.

“Shelton is always a solid team that plays hard so I’m extremely happy coming in here and winning this game,” Amity coach Mike Marchitto said.

“We played very well tonight.”

Amity controlled the action most of the way and benefited from an early goal by standout Kevin Howard to improve to 12-2 this season.

The Spartans opened play with a solid defensive stretch that resulted in a steal by Rob Trachtman and used the ensuing possession to take control.

A gorgeous pass in the midfield by Jack Brunwin split two Shelton defenders and found Howard on a run at the net.

Howard took the ball in full sprint and easily beat Shelton goalkeeper Alexander Howland one-on-one to score the only goal of the game in the 11th minute.

With the lead, the Spartans were able to rely on their strengths in the midfield and defense to control the game’s tempo the rest of the way.

Max Zaniewski made a standout defensive play in the first half with a nice defelction in front of the net.

Pat Kenefick and Trachtman later combined for a double team in the box and quickly ended a Shelton run before sending the ball back to the midfield.

“Steve Sasso is a great goalie and our defense is so strong that as long as we control the midfield like we did tonight then we are going to be hard to beat,” Marchito said.

Sasso wasn’t tested often, but protected the slim lead with several sparkling saves on the few scoring chances Shelton did have.

The first came with about 10 minutes remaining in the first half on a Shelton direct kick when the senior jumped high and brought the ball down with both hands.

Shelton (9-5-0) did put together a strong stretch of offense in the closing minutes of the second half with two quality shots, but Sasso denied both including a header by the Gaels’ Cody Dimauro.

Amity’s Brian Foley got into the act for the Spartans with a nice deflection of a cross-net pass in the first half, but Amity was saving the best effort on defense for the second half.

“Our goal in the second half was to come out and dominate the midfield and we did that that,” Marchito said.

The Spartan defense fought off an early Shelton corner kick to stop the host team’s last good opportunity of the game.

Amity had ball control virtually the entire second half with standout midfield play by Trachtman, Brunwin, Zaniewski, Kenefick and Adrien Demelier.

“We’re starting to get where we wanted to be as a team and playing well at the right time,” Marchitto said.

Amity visits Branford Oct. 28 and will host Foran High Friday afternoon at 3:45.

The SCC semifinals are Tuesday at the higher seed with the championship game set for 7:30 on Thursday, Nov. 5 at East Haven High.

Demelier and Howard scored the goals and Sasso made the saves when Amity stayed in the chase for the division title with a 2-0 victory over Lyman Hall (6-6-1) on Oct. 23.

Brunwin had an assist.

Howard scored four times and Kenefick once when Amity defeated Sheehan High, 5-1, on Oct. 20.

Demelier, Howard, Josh DeBarba and Foley had the assists and Sasso made five stops and Alex Neumann three.