Boys soccer

It’s ‘all good’ for Sullivan West in defeat of Chester

Fine outing brings Bulldogs within two wins of sectional berth

By RICHARD A. ROSS

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY - After a week of three 100-minute nail biters that resulted in one win (Tri-Valley), one tie (Port Jervis) and one devastating loss (James I. O’Neill), it was a pleasant change of pace for the Bulldogs to get on track with a speedy 5-1 win over Chester on October 10.

The victory put the Bulldogs within a pair of wins of securing a sectional berth, a first step in advancing the team further than last year’s squad once the postseason begins.

The Bulldogs out shot Chester 19-3 in the first half. Initially, they had some trouble finishing.

That changed with Justin Armstrong’s first goal at 11:20, scored off a corner kick by Garrett Owen to beat Hambletonian keeper Jared Gottlieb.

Kienan Garn made it 2-0 in favor of Sullivan West just 39 seconds later. Chester got on the board with a goal by Henrique Filho, but that was all the scoring that Bulldog keeper Logan Grishaber would allow for the day. Chester mustered just nine shots on the day.

Garn added his second goal at 35:39 of the second half as he picked up a ball midfield from Ross Bernhardt and broke out ahead of Chester’s defenders. He took a nice angle on Gottlieb, and drilled it by him to bring the score to 3-1.

Armstrong added another goal, assisted by Garn with 20:46 remaining. Kevin Cappiello got into the act with 18:27 to go for the Bulldogs’ fifth and final goal.

Sullivan West coach Debbie Owen was upbeat about the victory.

Commenting on the win, Owen said, “We had a few lapses but we started playing well. We had a lot of good passing and we got to play some of the people who usually don’t get into the mix that frequently, including Mitch Ellmauer, Kevin Pinkel, Gaston Owen and Harold Smith.”

The non-league win lifted the Bulldogs’ record to 7-3-1.

Visit riverreportersports.com for more on Sullivan West’s boys’ soccer and albums of photos.