Late Game Winner For wolFPack

Springfield NJ – The 9U wolFPack boys soccer team lived up to their name Sunday as they opened up their season with a thrilling 4-3 victory against rival Springfield.

Netminder Matt Toto was asked to play between the woodwork for the entire match and stood tall for the full 50 minutes.  Blocking shots any way he could and even was laying out in full stretch keeping the ball from crossing the line.  Toto showed his true athletic ability and was a true teammate in every sense of the word as he did not complain and didn’t mind staying in goal for the boys.

The Springfield team had a very talented player who actually got on the scoreboard first in the 5th minute of the game giving the home side an early 1 – nil lead.  Mark Perillo, who often stars as keeper, played a key role on the defensive side of the game in helping to slow down the Springfield Attack.  Perillo had a busy day on the field as well as Ryan “Medichio” Medich who would clean up anything and everything that came their way.  The hard work on defense was a shared responsibility where Dylan Sugg, Johnny Keogh and Nick Cicarelli all stepped up and help shut down a team that was coming off a 10 goal game the week prior.

Once wolFPack got settled into the match, midfielder/forward Daniel Rafael was able to get the ball over to Peter Garing who notched his first goal of the day bringing the score level at one’s.  Garing was not done at one, 5 minutes later he was collecting his second goal of the contest.  Not too much later we saw Danny Ewing laying off a nice ball to Garing who completed his hat-trick for the day giving the away side a 3 – 1 lead going into half.

Springfield saw some light as they were able to get back 2 goals early in the second half drawing the game at 3 each.

That is when one of the greatest plays in wolFPack history happened.

Sugg was able to win a ball on the defensive side and dished it over to Keogh.   Keogh was able to turn and face forward and dished it off to Garing on the left side of the pitch.  Garing dribbled the ball down the line beating 2 midfielders, cut in towards goal where 2 defenders were closing him down as well as the goalkeeper coming off his line to cut the angle of the shot.  What Springfield didn’t see was both Rafael and Ewing making beautiful far post runs to which Garing crossed the ball over.   Ewing was right on path and slammed in the GAME WINNER.

Combined with a strong defensive game and the hard work in midfield by Garing, Ewing, Rafael and Dylan Brown, wolFPack played a complete game

“I couldn’t have been happier with the result” Coach Garing stated after the match.  “Our defense was asked a lot of questions during the game and they always seemed to have an answer”

When pressed more about the game winning goal, “Kids are at practice 30 minutes early most of the time practicing these things.  It just tells me that extra efforts pay off”