- Details
- Category: Past Issues
The NECONN boys’ U11 Soccer team played its final game of the spring season June 13 and came from behind to tie Plainfield by the score of 3-3.
Plainfield put the pressure on NECONN early in the contest and was able to score the first goal of the game at about eight minutes of the contest on a very nice passing play that got behind the NECONN defense for the score. NECONN countered with a number of breaks into the Plainfield third of the field, but shots were going every which way but on net. Evan Cunningham, Tucker Sheehan, Elijah Dufour and Chris Walker contributed to the good NECONN offense, but all came up empty. Finally, Sam Paul took the ball down the right side and blasted an unassisted shot by the Plainfield keeper with fourteen minutes showing on the first-half clock. The teams battled evenly for almost the remainder of the period, but Plainfield took advantage of some NECONN miscues late in the stanza and scored two quick goals, one with three minutes left on the clock and another with only seconds, to take a 3-1 lead going into the half.
NECONN regrouped at the halftime, made some personnel changes and focused on scoring the next goal. Just three minutes in, Sam Paul did exactly that and came down the right side of the field and took a blast from just inside the 18 yard box, finding the top, left corner to score his second goal of the game. Now down by only a goal, the NECONN defense of Cal Wilcox, William Liscomb, Connor Fillmore and David Redfield, really stepped up and kept the Plainfield offense off balance for the remainder of the game. Each of these four had numerous one-on-one stops late in the game as NECONN took chances to score the equalizer. With ten minutes showing on the clock, it was Ryan Black who took a feed at midfield, creatively beat his defender and battled down the right side of the field. When he got into the box, he saw Max Paro open on the far post and slid a pretty pass over to Max who redirected a shot into the corner past the diving Plainfield keeper. The game was up for grabs for the remaining ten minutes. NECONN would have its opportunities that would just miss, and Plainfield would do the same. NECONN keeper Jack Liggett was sensational in the final minutes, keeping the score deadlocked at 3-3 as the final whistle blew.
NECONN ended the season with a record of 2-2-1 and a third-place finish in the six team league.