Firestorm Blank Hanover Behind O’Leary Brace

Cedar Knolls, NJ – Florham Park Firestorm battle out a win to remain undefeated in their Spring 2017 campaign. The away game certainly had many challenges for The Park boys as the fields conditions were unfavorable as well as missing 3 players.  However the Firestorm walked away with their first ever clean sheet topping the Jaguars of Hanover 2 nil.

First half of the contest between the two teams did not net in any goals being scored.  The game was matched up pretty evenly early on as Hanover Jaguars seemed to be keeping pace and presented themselves with numbers around the ball at all times.  A system that was giving the Firestorm staff a hard time figuring out.

“They always seemed to have a few guys surrounding us” said Coach Garingafter the match.  “At one point I stopped and counted to make sure they only had 6 field players” the team’s gaffer continued.

It wasn’t until the second half when the away team found their stride.

The trio of Chase Sugg, Teddy Petro and co-skipper Matty O’Leary came on strong to start the second half.  The evenly matched game of the first half started to lean in favor of the away team as the game started to be played on the positive side of the pitch.  The 3 Firestormer’s out worked their opponents to only have shots deflected, blocked and saved.

Through the hard work of Sugg, Petro and O’Leary, Florham Park opened up the scoreboard as O’Leary beat 2 defenders on the right side of the pitch and deposited the ball in the onion bag for his first goal of the game.

The left side of the field put together a fantastic play starting in the back with Rocco Sanitillan who fed the ball up to Jack Galante.   Galante was able to dribble up the field, beat a Jaguar defender and had a brilliant text book cross into the box.  O’Leary was in the right position to receive the ball and netted his second to complete his brace for the afternoon.

Jack Botwin was the net minder in the first half holding back any shots the Jaguars offered up.   Byrce Cicchino saw little to no action in the second half as the net minder completing the first clean sheet for the Firestorm since they started playing together in the Fall 2016

“I stressed the importance of clean sheet before the game.  The passing, the goals, the team work are complimentary to the clean sheet today” Coach Garing stated after the game

The clean sheet is a result of the tireless efforts from defender co-skipper Luke Ferrara holding up the defensive middle and chasing down any potential attack. Ferrara has been a key component for the teams success in their first 3 games.

Defenders Jack Garing and Santillan had outstanding games along side Ferrara limiting opportunity for the Jaguars.

Hard work did not go unnoticed by assistant Coach Santillan

“Opponent was fast, field conditions were not favorable, and Firestorm was missing 3 of its players.  The boys made adjustments in the second half and displayed tremendous adversity in overcoming their opponent.”

Firestorm have a potential flight topper next week as they play host to Montville Matrix.