Composure under Pressure

Early in the game Salisbury showed that they had some offensive threats, but our team defense was in sync led by strong positional play and good defensive decision making from 3rd former Kyle Proctor. 3rd former Ashton Colangelo, also playing center back, led our offensive transitions with excellent distribution. Because of good buildup play from the back, we were able to control the ball for most of the first half in the attacking end and were able to use space effectively to connect passes and create scoring opportunities. Several good runs were made by Connor Bressette and Pearson Latse on the flanks, and we had good attempts at goal from Center Mids, Greg Levin and Ethan Maura. The Salisbury goalkeeper made several saves, but at the 35th minute Connor Bressette was taken down inside the penalty box and subsequently finished the PK for our first goal. The Salisbury team came out with more intensity the second half and put one in at the near post after the first 10 minutes. However, after the letting in the goal, we did not lose our heads and kept playing our game. Colby Martins brought our intensity back by stepping up his game in the second half. He dominated the right side our defense by anticipating the right time to step in and win the ball and then continuing his run forward. Greg Levin also did outstanding in marshalling the center of the park and being able pick out the right pass. We found most success from the flanks again in the second half. Both Pearson and Connor had several good attempts at goal, but Connor finally got one past the Salisbury keeper with about 10 minutes to go. We continued to keep our composure on the field until the final whistle and ended with a deserved win.