Sports
Tappen Zee, Pearl River End Heated Soccer Match in Tie
The Pirates and Dutchmen finished in a 1-1 draw in a meeting of two of the top boys soccer teams in Rockland County Tuesday at Pearl River.
Somebody finally kept the Pearl River boys soccer team from winning a game.
Not that the Pirates lost.
Tappan Zee played Pearl River to a 1-1 tie in a battle of Rockland County boys soccer contenders Tuesday at Pear River.
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The Pirates moved to 7-0-1 on the season and the Flying Dutchmen are now 8-1-1.
The game was played at a very high pace. Neither team was able to do much possessing of the ball. Things were very much back and forth.
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“They are a big, physical team and we are more possession oriented,” said Pearl River Coach Damon O’Keefe. “I think we saw both sides of that today. A draw is not a bad outcome, but one of our goals today was to isolate ourselves at the top of the lead, but we didn’t get the ball in the net enough.”
It wasn’t until midway through the second half that Pearl River senior Mike Vinci was able to settle the ball at his foot with a good look at the goal. Vinci cashed in on his opportunity buy bending a shot from about 18 yards out into the back of the Tappan Zee goal.
“Their defense was moving side to side with the ball,” said Vinci. “I noticed them flowing with the ball, stopped it, saw a hole in the defense and let it rip.”
The Pirates, as it happens so often is soccer, had a huge energy boost immediately after the goal and looked like they might get a quick second goal. Tappan Zee’s defense was up for the challenge. The Dutchmen’s defense was finally able to slow the pace down and keep the deficit at 1-0.
The Pirates defense was strong all day. They may have ended up with a clean sheet if not for a late penalty called for a hand ball inside the box.
With just under five minutes remaining and down by a goal, Tappan Zee’s Chris Kane found himself right where he wanted to be, at the penalty spot. Kane’s shot was clean and Pearl River keeper Justin Cueva didn’t have a chance.
The game took on a new life in overtime. The pace was completely full speed on both sides with each side believing they could notch a winner at any second. Neither could find the back of the net.
One real scoring chance did present itself at the end of regulation. Pearl River forward Alex Castillo had a breakaway chance with under a minute remaining. Tappan Zee goalkeeper Danny Calderon came out and forced Castillo into an early shot that he pushed wide of the post.
The teams still have a meeting ahead of them at Tappan Zee.
“It was great to see us back together, competeing, playing meaningful games," O'Keefe said. "It’s not the outcome we wanted but we will be going to play them on the road, under the lights, and that game will be a big one.”
