Local Soccer Reams Mired in Topsy-Turvy State of Affairs; Somers Beats Mahopac, Falls to Carmel; Lakeland Beats PR, Falls to JFK

From day to day, the local soccer circuit changes on a dime. Mahopac splits with Somers, than knocks off North Salem. Defending Class A champion Lakeland wins seven in a row and follows with a loss to Kennedy, which also defeated Yorktown. Somers responds to its win over Mahopac by dropping consecutive games to John Jay EF and struggling Carmel, which is better than its record indicates.

The inconsistency among the northern Westchester/Putnam County teams leads Section 1 soccer enthusiasts to wonder if they have what it takes to run with the powers that be in lower Westchester (Port Chester and Byram Hills in Class A and White Plains in AA) and Dutchess County (Beacon in Class A, Arlington AA) come playoff time.

MAHOPAC keeps on keeping on.  At 9-3 overall, 8-2 in league play, Coach Chris Emery’s Indians are looking like a potential Class AA Final 4 team for what would be the second time in three years. Mahopac defeated Class C heavyweight North Salem, 2-1, in double overtime last Friday (Mahopac’s fourth overtime win this season) after defeating Brewster, 3-1, on Thursday.

Three of those four OT wins have been in double overtime, two against North Salem; the most recent coming on the heels of Nick Schiera’s OT heroics.

“I don’t know what it is, but we seem to have a flair for the dramatic this season,” Emery admitted. “Nick Schiera was the hero today. He had just subbed in to start the second overtime and in the third minute we sent a high cross into the box. Their keeper, Luke Mackenzie, dropped the cross and Nick was in perfect position to knock home his first varsity goal and win the game for us.”

For the second game in a row, Mahopac came out strong and controlled possession. Slow starts had been an issue, but not on this day. Indian defender Kieran Donnelly cleared two North Salem chances to keep it tied at 0-0.

“In a game that ended up 2-1, Kieran’s play was a very close second to Nick’s goal in terms of importance,” Emery said.

Mahopac get on the board in the 29th minute when middie Jared Milian caught their keeper off his line and beat him from about 35 yards out for a 1-0 lead the Indians took into the half. The first overtime was pretty evenly played, until Sciera’s tally three minutes into the second OT. Mahopac keeper Mike Bernardi put in another stellar effort (6 saves).

“The conditions were rough because they have a grass field that was mostly mud in the middle from all of the recent rain, and Mike did a great job of securing the ball and not giving up rebounds in spite of the conditions,” Emery said. “Overall, it was a great team effort on a field that does not fit us very well.”

Against Brewster, Mahopac scored in the 32nd minute when Conor Butler caught Brewster keeper Joe Bettini off his line and found the back of the net from about 40 yards out. Five minutes in to the second half, Joseph Iraola found Sebastian Kufa on a nice run into the box for a 2-0 lead. Seven minutes, Brewster’s Brian O’Kelly’s Bernardi from about 30 yards out to make 2-1.

“It was a nice shot but we gave him the opportunity by whiffing on a few clearing attempts,” Emery said. “That was one of our only hiccups in the game and we recovered nicely by going back to possessing the ball.”

Iraola sent another great ball to Butler, who found the back of the net for his second goal of the game, for a two-goal lead. Bernardi was solid in net once again and made 7 saves.  Bettini made 10 saves for Brewster.

“It was one of our best games of the season,” Emery said. “We controlled the ball for most of the game and played a very unselfish. Conor Butler played extremely well in the midfield for us and had the first multi-goal game of his career. Ryan Conlin and Justin Fleischer did a great job out on the flanks for us as they made good runs and opened up things in the middle. We asked Joseph Iraola to play a different role for us today and he came through with two assists. David Kalaj, Jesse Lichtman, Kieran Donnelly, Ray Arcieri and Matt Fariselli were all solid in the back.”

Mahopac is having a “Cancer Awareness” night on Monday against R.C. Ketcham at 4:30 and will be wearing pink, but the game of the week will be next Saturday against John Jay EF with the league title on the line.

SOMERS was pretty solid in a 1-0 win over Mahopac, getting a goal from senior captain Nick Fecci, who scored off an assist from Harold Aryee in the fifth minute.

“The play was very close to being off-sides,” Emery said, “but we made the mistake of assuming the call would be made. When it wasn’t, Fecci was able to beat us and give them the only goal that they needed.”

Domers dropped at 9-10 players behind the ball and made it very difficult for Mahopac to attack Tusker keeper Ryan Nealon (5 saves)

“We never seriously challenged him,” Emery said. “We were able to do a good job of possessing the ball after their goal, but with so many guys back we just couldn’t break through. Somers did a great job of making things very frustrating for us. We wanted to play the ball out wide to Joseph Iraola, but they were the first team we’ve played so far to designate two men to taking Joseph away. Joseph has been man-marked in most of our games, including the last time we played Somers, but this time they moved one of their best players to sweeper (Xavier Lloyd) and he was always positioned to Joseph’s side in addition to the mark. It was a good strategy as they were able to severely limit Joseph’s opportunities. I strongly believe that you learn a lot more about yourself after a loss than a win, so we will use it as a learning experience going forward. After winning seven in a row, this will serve as a reminder that we still have six regular season games remaining and we haven’t won anything yet.”

The Tuskers failed to keep that momentum going, fall to CARMEL, 2-1, last Saturday in OT. The host Rams got a point-blank goal from Matt Cassidy to win it. Scott Pesick also scored for the Rams. Fecci hit the lone Tusker tally. Ederson Medina had nine saves for Carmel. Nealon had 14 saves for Somers, who lost a game they didn’t see coming. The Tuskers also suffered a 1-0 loss to mighty good John Jay EF earlier in the week.

“The Mahopac game demonstrated our potential defensively and if you consider the field and the opponent; losing 1-0 — off an unlucky goal — to East Fishkill wasn’t a terrible showing,” Fecci said. “I have no words for the Carmel game: It was our worst performance of the season none us came to play that day. It may hurt our seed, but we still feel like a contender in Class A. Carmel was a fluke loss.”

Let’s hope so for Carmel’s sake.

LAKELAND took a hit last week in a 1-0 loss to Kennedy Catholic when Matt Minniter scored on an assist from Gareth Esteves with 35 seconds left. Kennedy stud Hyun Gyo Jung led a defense that kept Gonzalo Prando and company in check. Prando came into the game having scored eight straight goals for the Hornets in a four-game stretch, including a hat trick in a 5-1 win over Panas earlier in the week.

“Neither team played great soccer and honestly neither team really deserved a goal,” Lakeland boss Tim Hourahan said of the JFK game. “There was not high level soccer being played; basically kick and rush soccer. Both teams would just bang into box and look for a scramble. Not a lot of shots on goal either way. Give them credit as they played well on that small grass field. They beat Yorktown last week there as well. It was a tough loss for us as we were playing well for the eight games before that. We have a tough last four games as well.”