Last Tuesday, November 5, 2013, the 27th seed
Darien Boys Varsity soccer team took on the 6th seed Abbott
Technical School at Danbury Middle School in Danbury. With a successful season
so far, this was the first game in the state tournament for the Blue Wave.
The first half was scoreless with the Blue Wave keeping the
majority of possession throughout the match. Two of the captains, junior Henrik
Stockinger and senior Graham Helgans, emphasized the strength of the Blue Wave
attack by having nice shots on goal, with Helgans having the highlight of the
half by ripping a scorching shot off the crossbar. Coming off the field at the
half the squad was hungry for a goal and could easily upset their better ranked
opponent.
The second half saw the Wave continue their dominance with
possession and sophomore Jack Kniffin created some beautiful chances with his
accurate crosses into the box. The Abbott Tech squad, although they were the
number six seed, barely had any chances and when they did sophomore goalie Liam
Rischmann saved every one of them. Unfortunately the Darien team was unable to
put in a goal and the game continued on to twenty minute overtime with two ten minute
halves.
The overtime had a huge impact on the pressure for both
teams but the Blue Wave were able to prevail and basically kept Abbott Tech
contained in their own half for the majority of the overtime. Then the highly
effective Helgans came up big again, blistering down the left hand side of the
field and putting in a superb cross which found the feet of freshmen phenom
Harrison Gill. Gill, with excellent soccer instincts, placed the ball into the
back of the net with his shin and produced the goal that would send the Wave
onto the second round of the state tournament. But the game was not over yet,
with Abbott players pushing forward in their only overtime attack. A header was
produced by the Abbott captain which was sure to find the back of the net until
junior Vinny Puzio suddenly appeared and made a goal-line stand, flicking the
ball out of bounds and ensuring the win for the underdog Blue Wave.
When asked about his miraculous play to secure the win for
Darien, Puzio commented, “My instincts just took over and I was happy to make a
big contribution towards our win.”
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| Helgans at a varsity practice earlier in the season |
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