Soccer
Power outage: York Boys' Soccer shut out by Yarmouth, Falmouth
By Uwe Seeler
In a lonely place. York keeper Dan Graziano contemplates a tough week that saw the Wildcats go down to league powerhouses Yarmouth and Falmouth by a combined score of 6-0. York looked to rebound this week with a game Tuesday night at Wells.
Photo by Kate Rasche
YORK - Facing their first real tests of the year, the York Wildcats came up against the harsh reality of life among the contenders when they were shut out by a Yarmouth 4-0 thrashing at York last Tuesday, Sept. 5, and again at Falmouth, 2-0, two nights later, albeit in a much stronger effort, dropping their record to 1-2.
Senior Co-Captain Matt Carey said of the past week, "We really saw two different sides of our team in these two games. Against Yarmouth we came out really flat, and not as well prepared as we should have been, mentally."
As for the Falmouth game, however, Carey said he had few complaints.
"The team was working hard from the start, but we were just a bit unlucky," he said. "We hit a few posts; we just need to tuck our chances away."
Yarmouth 4, York 0
York found themselves down early against Yarmouth when Dan Gurges scored unmarked from 15 yards out at the center of the box, with a strong shot that beat York keeper Dan Graziano high after York failed to control and clear the loose ball.
With Yarmouth continuing to win balls and controlling the midfield, the visitors earned a direct kick from 30 yards at the 23-minute mark. With Yarmouth crashing the goal, confusion between Graziano and center back Carey led to a collision, and Graziano's clearing punch-out attempt went awry, allowing Matt Morrill to slot in the rebound past the diving keeper to make it 2-0.
The long night continued at 5:01 of the first half when Yarmouth's Mike O'Connell drilled in a loose ball off the fingertips of the diving Graziano to make it 3-0. Yarmouth put the lights out three minutes later when Morrill put in his second of the game to make it 4-0, this one on the rebound off a skipping shot from 25 yards that Graziano was unable to hold.
York's only dangerous shot of the night came off a curling shot by Joe Corsello from 25 yards out on a free kick, a screamer that went right at the Yarmouth keeper at the 26-minute mark of the second half.
York settled down defensively in the second half, but they never threatened to be in this game and were unable to penetrate the flat back four and five midfielder formation used by Yarmouth. The Wildcats were reduced to playing hopeful through balls that rarely found a York player, and the Yarmouth team defense effectively swarmed any player that received the ball.
Falmouth 2, York 0
The Wildcats put in a better effort, but saw the same result at Falmouth on Thursday where they went down 2-0. York pressured from the start and controlled the play through long stretches of this game, but all of their best shots found posts, while the hosts were able to convert on their only legitimate scoring chances, both against the run of play.
York successfully shut down Falmouth scoring star Jordan Hale by having midfielder Matt Prewitt shadow him effectively for the game. But while successful in shutting out Hale, Coach Jeff Smith said the 4-4-1 formation that resulted for York left them short on offense. Smith said he would likely look to playing Falmouth straight up on the return match, believing that his Wildcats would be up to the task.
The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Wells last night, Tuesday, Sept. 12, as they try to get themselves back on track. Although heavily favored over the Warriors, Carey said the Wildcats can't afford to look past anybody at this point.
"All I know is that we are under .500 and we can't overlook anybody."
