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10/09/2016 12:00 AMThe Valley Regional boys’ soccer squad dropped both of last week’s contests, but Head Coach Mick Fearon is satisfied with his team’s 4-3-2 record at the campaign’s midway point, especially considering the Warriors graduated several starters from their 2015 squad. Coach Fearon has been quite impressed with his team’s defense this season and feels confident the Warriors can make a run if they put a few more in the back of the net. Valley is currently in great shape to qualify for the Class S State Tournament and is also in contention to make the Shoreline Conference Tournament with its league mark of 4-2-1.
“The assessment of the team is after we lost eight starting players from last year, for the record we’re at right now, I’m quite pleased with the way the boys have played,” said Fearon, whose team needs one win and a tie to make states. “Defense has been our strong point as we’ve only conceded 10 goals in the nine games we’ve played. Hopefully, the offense will come around. We’ve always been a team that’s able to score. Right now, we have three players with three goals and, after that, we just have individuals with one goal, and so we just hope that we can get a couple of guys who’ve scored before to score.”
In last week’s action, Valley took a 1-0 overtime defeat at Woodstock Academy on Oct. 5 and then lost 3-1 at home versus defending Shoreline Conference Tournament champion Old Lyme on Oct. 7. The contest at Woodstock was a tight one throughout that saw Valley put seven shots on goal to the opposition’s eight. Warriors’ sophomore goalie Charlie Haugton made six saves to help keep the game scoreless through regulation. There’s no overtime in Shoreline Conference games, but this was a non-conference contest, and so the clubs played a sudden victory extra session that saw Woodstock net the game’s lone goal just five minutes in to win it.
Coach Fearon said the Warriors played really well in the game, although they were unable to consistently put together enough scoring opportunities.
“We started off and played a 4-4-2 and went to a 4-3-3 [replacing a midfielder with a defender] and, from that point on, we were the better of the two teams. We played three up front and managed to take more control of the game,” Fearon said. “Their coach said at the end that we were probably one of the best teams they’ve played this year and that was a good compliment. So territorially, we had the better of the game, but didn’t really create good goal-scoring chances.”
Coach Fearon added that Valley’s two central defenders, senior Jack Liggett and sophomore vice captain Ryan Davis, had very good games while keeping Woodstock Academy’s top scorer Ryan Black off the board. Liggett and Davis have been mainstays on the defensive end this year, along with seniors Rocky Harpin, Jacob Azzinaro, and Jared Riccitelli, plus junior Zach Stevens. Senior captain Nate Gagnon is another defender, but he’s been sidelined for the past several games, as has senior forward Alex Lepore. Coach Fearon hopes both athletes can get back in action before the campaign’s conclusion to provide a nice boost for the Warriors.
“The boys who’ve been out with injuries and sickness, it’s always a struggle for them because they want so badly to get back on the field,” said Fearon. “Hopefully, they’ll be able to get back and it will be like getting a couple of new players coming in at the end of the season.”
Valley’s next game was against Old Lyme and the Warriors got started on the right foot as Charlie Ferrucci scored from senior Luke DeFrino eight minutes into the game. Senior midfielder Victor Cartagena made a good pass on the outside to DeFrino, who beat his defender, pulled the ball across the goal, and found Ferrucci. The junior forward had sprinted 20 yards down field to take the pass from DeFrino and then outmaneuvered his defender before putting it past the Wildcats’ keeper for a quick 1-0 lead. However, Old Lyme scored two goals between the 16th and 21st minutes to take a 2-1 lead that held up at halftime. Fifteen minutes into the second half, the Wildcats struck for another goal that put them in the driver’s seat with a two-score advantage. Valley had a chance to cut the deficit in half on a corner kick with 10 minutes left, but after that chance went by the wayside, Old Lyme clamped down on defense to seal the victory.
Fearon noted the strong play of Cartagena and junior midfielder Adrian Sperzel in this contest. Senior keeper Buddy Haydu made five saves as Old Lyme outshot Valley 10-6. Haydu and Haughton have each seen their fair share of minutes in net this year and Fearon said they’ve both played well in tandem with their defenders. The Old Lyme loss marked the first time Valley has allowed more than two goals in a game this season and the Warriors have limited the opposition to one goal or less in seven of their nine contests.
Coach Fearon believes his team has some good things going as Valley dives into the home stretch of the 2016 season. One specific aspect that Fearon feels is working in the Warriors’ favor is the attitude of his athletes and how they’re never pleased with any defeat, yet have the ability to shake them off and get ready for the next game.
“I think this is a credit to the boys. Sometimes when a team loses, it doesn’t affect the team. This group, when they tie or in the games we’ve lost, you see the disappointment and they really look forward to the next practice or game to right ship,” Fearon said. “The overall attitude is good. They don’t let the defeats get them down too much, but they know they’re in every game and, with a lot of first-year varsity players playing a lot of minutes, it’s good to see that they don’t get too down, but are disappointed when they lose.”
From the Sidelines
Valley Regional’s complete roster consists of sophomore goalie Charlie Haughton, senior goalie Buddy Haydu, senior defender Rocky Harpin, senior defender Jacob Azzinaro, senior defender Jack Liggett, senior captain defender Nate Gagnon, senior defender Ryan Davis, senior forward Alex Lepore, junior midfielder Adrian Sperzel, senior forward Zak Tisdale, senior midfielder Victor Cartagena, senior forward Luke DeFrino, senior forward Yavuz Basaran, senior forward Ben Kilby, sophomore forward Michael Dilger, senior midfielder Jacob Patterson, junior forward Charlie Ferrucci, junior defender Zach Stevens, senior forward/defender Jared Riccitelli, junior defender Kevin Baldwin, junior defender Andrew Silva, sophomore midfielder Sean Cole, sophomore midfielder Dan Hearn, junior goalie Kevin Michel, and freshman goalie Chris Sparaco.
Mick Fearon is in his 15th season as head coach of the Warriors. Fearon is assisted by Dan Denegre, who’s the head coach of the JV team and a varsity assistant; and Bryant Ziobron, who’s a varsity assistant.
Valley’s victories this season have come against Haddam-Killingworth (4-2), Hale-Ray (4-1), Westbrook (4-0), and East Hampton (2-0). The team has also tied Old Saybrook (0-0) and Lyman Hall (1-1).
For the rest of the regular season, the Warriors have a home game versus North Branford at 3:45 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 10; play at Portland at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 13; at Cromwell at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15; at Coginchaug at 3:45 on Monday, Oct. 17; have a home match with Cromwell at 6:30 on Thursday, Oct. 20; a game at Haddam-Killingworth at 3:45 on Monday, Oct. 24; and then host Coginchaug at 6:30 on Thursday, Oct. 27.