Firestorm Shine In Soggy Springfield

Springfield, NJ – The Florham Park Firestorm were on the road at Springfield for an wet afternoon contest.  The physical side of Springfield has them on top of the flight with a 5-1 record going into the match.  A revenge game of sorts for Firestorm who were on the losing end of the first leg in a tight 5-4 loss.  But the second leg saw the boys in blue come out on top 4-2 on a soggy Springfield day.

The game started with a positive tone for the Firestorm team as they battled it out with the leaders.  But the scoring came first with the home side early in the game putting the visitiors up against the wall.   The 1 nil Springfield was all that happened in the first half.

Firestorm came out in the second half with a new purpose and determination to get goals. The ALL IN approach saw the comeback start in the 35th minute with Luke Ferrara who picked out Jack Garing from a corner kick. Defender Jack Garing was sitting on top of the penalty box and 1 timed a blast into the far upper 90 bringing the game to ones while opening his account for the 2017 campaign.

Shortly after in the 37th minute Ferrara had an outstanding individual play weaving in and out of the Springfield back line and netting a goal to give the visiting team the lead.

The Firestorm’s leading goal scorer and the matches co-skipper Chase Sugg added another to his account in the 50th minute when he received a pass from Garing. Sugg who has been a clinical finisher at times for Firestorm capitalized on his opportunity.

The game opened up later in the match and saw Springfield climb back in when they scored making it a 3-2 game.

An overall outstanding effort by co-skipper Colin Heinold all day long paid dividends when he assisted on a late goal to Emilio Farina sealing the victory for the boys in blue. Farina was able to use his size and speed to break through and finish a cracker stretching out the back of the net.

The entire 60 minutes had Bryce Cicchino minding the net.  It was the first time Firestorm had a steady goalie for the entire match.

Alex Salamon, Reid Baldwin, Jack Botwin and Jimmy Casola all contributed to the victory with keeping pressure on the Springfield defenders and not letting them out so easy out of the back. This allowed play to stay on the positive side of the pitch and allow the defenders to get a bit of rest at times.

Matty O’Leary was the anchor in the center defensive back position.  This forced Springfield to the outside of the pitch where they just ran into more trouble with stalwarts Garing, Rocco Santillan and Leif Youngren.

It was a true team performance for the Firestorm where they showed their true potential.

“Down a goal in the first half, the boys scored 3 unanswered goals in the second half.  Every single player contributed today and they played their hearts out” commented Coach Santillan after the match.

They will be the hosting team of the their remaining 2 games and hope to make a bit of a surge towards the top of the table.