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09/13/2021 12:00 AMThe Morgan boys’ soccer team is off to a hot start to begin the 2021 season. The Huskies opened their campaign with a pair of games against Old Lyme and Norwich Free Academy (NFA), and picked up wins in both contests.
Head Coach Ross Demay knows that he has a talented squad this year, but a lot of that talent seems to be on the defensive end this season. That doesn’t bother Coach Demay as there are many ways to win a soccer game, and he develops Morgan’s strategies based on the team’s personnel.
“I’m thinking that this year we’re going to be hard to score on. We’ll see what happens offensively. It’s still up in the air,” said Coach Demay. “We have our entire defense back from last year, and we were the best defense in the shoreline with seven shutouts in 10 games.”
That defense was on display in Morgan’s 3-0 win over Old Lyme on Sept. 9. From the outset, Morgan was in control moving the ball. The Huskies opened in the seventh minute off a steal from junior Jake Mastriano, who fed fellow junior Matt Lopez. Lopez ripped the ball into the lower right corner of the net. The rest of the half went by with Morgan maintaining control of the ball, but went into halftime with just the 1-0 advantage.
The Huskies quickly found the back of the net in the second half. Two minutes into the half, junior captain Sebastian Kadlof stole the ball and broke through two defenders to slot the ball by Old Lyme’s keeper make it a 2-0 edge. Morgan’s final goal came in transition. Junior Nick Boudreau had the ball in the midfield and passed it to senior Ethan Madura. Ethan played a through ball to Steven Kinser who one time chipped it over the sliding keeper to make it 3-0.
Morgan’s captains senior Tyler Mucha and Kadlof have played a big role for the team so far this season as being the example-setters for the rest of the squad. The Huskies saw that work payoff of their junior captain, Kadlof when he scored his first goal of the season against the Wildcats.
“They’re always the hardest working. They may not be as boisterous as captains we’ve had in the past, but they lead on the field. They were playing and getting their varsity letters when it was hard to crack that team. We had players that were highly recruited with nine of them going on to play in college,” Demay said. “I think what helped them the most is that when they were younger they learned to push their teammates and not care about their age. Talk to anyone on the field no matter who it is. If it’s constructive, you have to do it to get the job done.”
Morgan earned a 3-2 victory over Norwich Free Academy on Sept. 11. The Huskies fell behind early in the first half at the 13-minute mark on a breakaway goal. In the 25th minute, NFA got behind Morgan’s defense again in another one-on-one attempt against senior keeper Bailey Goss, who made the first save but was unable to corral the rebound resulting in a 2-0 NFA lead.
Morgan’s offense found some scoring opportunities in the first half with NFA’s goalie making five saves in the next 10 minutes. Same as two days earlier, Lopez scored Morgan’s first goal, but this time on a rare olimpico, which is when a player scores directly on a corner kick. NFA’s goalie did not expect the curved shot and bobbled the ball into the net. After that, Mucha had a solid chance to tie the game on a free kick just before halftime; NFA’s keeper made a great save.
In the second half, the pace of play picked up. Morgan controlled the tempo of the game from here on out with several scoring chances. The Huskies’ first successful opportunity came off of another Lopez corner. This time, his kick found the foot of fellow junior Joe Morse who one-timed the ball in the back of the net to tie the game up in the 48th minute. Morgan’s defensive adjustments in the second kept NFA’s attack stifled. Morgan would get the go-ahead goal just four minutes later off another Mucha free kick. Kadlof headed Mucha’s ball to junior Steven Kinser, who likewise used his head to find the back of the net, putting the Huskies on top and completing the 3-2 comeback.
Coach Demay would have preferred to see his squad maintain control for the whole game, but a 3-2 comeback win was also a great way to build momentum after the first two games. The Huskies have their sights set on another great season culminating in a playoff run, it will just take some work to find what works for this particular group.
“Our goal is to pick up where we left off. Last year, we didn’t get our chance to complete our fourth-straight Shoreline title, primarily due to COVID. Now, we’re out to prove that it was COVID that kept us out,” said Demay. “We want to be one of those top teams, make it to the finals, and hopefully win it. We have great players with recognition returning, and we have talented younger guys who just haven’t had enough practices with the team yet. We’ll see what happens.”