Soccer

Reboot

Tri-Valley wins opener against refurbished Eldred;teams show promise for new campaign

richardross@ By RICHARD A. ROSS

ELDRED, NY — The first match of the season shows players and coaches what’s working and what needs more effort.

For Eldred, a team that went winless in 2006 and scored only four goals for the season, all a product of 2007 graduate Ryan Burns, the future looks much brighter, based on its showing in the opener on September 6 against a talented Tri-Valley squad.

Eldred coach J.J. Gass has some weapons to work with this year, including junior standout Mike Walton, who wasted no time in showing his speed and finesse as he worked the ball up the right sideline, dribbled deftly across the middle and fired one into the net unassisted, outside the reach of Bears’ keeper James McLain with 37:43 remaining in the first half.

Having a lead in a game was something new for Eldred and the goal took Tri-Valley by surprise. Just prior, Tri-Valley had the early edge with skillful Nate Coelho dribbling and making a couple of runs at Eldred keeper Aaron Smith.

The Bears were anxious to show coach Becky Piechuta that they’d pick up where last year’s team left off, with hustle and cohesion. The Bears went 10-8 in 2006 and made sectionals, where they lost to Millbrook in the opening round. It was Piechuta’s first season but graduation took its toll with the loss of Sean Messenger, Kevin Delaney, Zach Cosentino, Justin Kaplan and keeper Fred Moore.

But as seniors move on, it’s up to those remaining to fill in the ranks. This year, Piechuta has the talented Coelho, Jake Gray, who scored the first goal of his career late in the game, striker Gavin Perrella, and defenders David McDonald and Jack Parrow, who work well in tandem in the backfield. Johnny Wachter fills out the ranks of the seniors.

Back in the fold are Weston Currey, a staunch defender, midfielder Will Leon, McLain, spent time in the goal after Coelho took a knock to the knee, defender Alan Moss, Rex Mulder, who showed a lot of speed up front, as he fired a few wide shots at the Eldred net, and Chris Walter, another weapon in the Bears’ arsenal.

Sophomores Jaxon Denman and Norman Silon round out the squad. The Bears fared better in the second half as they communicated better, showed more patience and won more balls.

In addition to the talented Walton, Eldred has what Gass refers to as “some valuable pieces.” That includes senior Evan Laput, whose tumbling throw ins are an art form. Senior John Scully is quick, agile and aggressive. Last year, Tri-Valley downed the Yellowjackets 13-0 and 8-0. Gass wanted his team to make more respectable. They did that and then some.

Eldred’s other seniors are Marcio Costellos and former football player Andrew Cole. Making the transition from football to soccer is not easy as Cole learned by tripping up Coelho in the box that led to a penalty kick with 23:29 to go in the first half.

Coelho drilled the shot into the left side of the net. “We gave them that one,” Gass noted later, after Tri-Valley took a 2-1 lead. The Bears had tied it up with a laser shot by Perrella with 25:00 remaining, as Eldred defenders failed to get back in time to repel Tri-Valley’s quick offense. The Bears were a bit overanxious in the first half and missed on some chances to score. Eldred’s defense played with hustle and fight. They made Tri-Valley rush its shots and worked hard in the midfield, winning more than their fair share of balls.

Having a coach who really understands the game, like Gass, offers great promise for the future of Eldred’s program. Building a strong modified team will help as well.

Other Eldred players in the mix include juniors Jason Jennings, keeper Smith, Ben Steimle and Adrianne Cormier. The rest of the Gass gang is young, including sophomores Dean Olcott, Joe Habe, Matt Wallace, and freshmen Patrick Reiser, Zach Ahrenfield and Ronnie Lybolt.

The Bears led 2-1 at the break. Unfortunately for Eldred, Walton, who is relentless, cramped up early in the second half and was lost for 29 minutes. Taking him out of the flow hurt the Yellowjackets offensively and took away a key defensive weapon as well.

Meanwhile, the Bears took Piechuta’s advice to heart. “We need to clean it up and communicate better out there,” she had told her players. “Step to the ball and work to control it.”

The advice paid off, and the Bears showed their ability to work effectively as a unit.

Perrella picked up a ball from Coelho with only 36 seconds gone by in the second half to make it 3-1.

Mulder fired one wide left of the net, but at the other end Scully just missed one as Coelho, now in net briefly, lost control of the ball but held on at the last minute to prevent the score. Silon got into the action and just missed one for the Bears. Mulder missed another to the left. When he learns to show a bit more patience, his speed and dexterity are bound to make him a serious scoring threat.

With Walton off the field and the Yellowjackets beginning to wear down from the running, Tri-Valley, which is a well-conditioned team replete with skilled players, began to hold sway.

Silon got back out there, and with 8:24 he fed Gray the ball that would give the senior that long-sought first goal. It capped off a great run and gave the Bears a 4-1 victory.

Gass had a lot of praise for his players who hustled, but noted that they don’t understand how much running is involved; they need to be in better condition to keep up their intensity for 80 minutes. “We’ll go back and look at everything we did today,” he said.

Tri-Valley had 27 shots on goal and Eldred had eight. Smith had seven saves for Eldred (0-1). Coelho had one for the Bears (1-0).

Eldred was slated to travel to Tuxedo on September 11 and then to The Family School on September 14. Tri-Valley fell to Fallsburg 4-0 on September 10 and travels to S.S. Seward on September 14.

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