U-11 Demons Tame Mavericks

The Garden City Demons traveled to Merrick last Saturday to play the Mavericks, a team the Demons are very familiar with having faced them twice before, most recently in a thrilling overtime contest in the third round of last Spring's Waldbaum's Cup competition. The Demons came away winning that one on a fantastic golden goal by Jack Gillan and he and his Demon teammates picked up right where they left off as they defeated Merrick this time by the score of 4-2. These evenly matched teams were eager to go to work on a day that featured sunshine and windy conditions. Merrick won the toss and chose to go with the wind which meant a lot of work for fullbacks Jack Tigh, Mark DeSantis, Will Harrington, and Dale Stasco. The Mavericks and their balanced attack came at the Demons with good passes up the wings and a strong game in the midfield as their height advantage there won them a good many 50/50's in the first half. Strikers Carney Mahon, Kevin Mullin, along with Danny Simmons and Matthew Rogers worked a short passing game very well and with Peter Escribano, Jack Gillan, and Greg Vouzianas supporting in midfield, the foursome manufactured several scoring chances, but it was Ray Leto who was tested early as each shot taken by the Mavericks was given an extra push by the wind. Defenders Tigh, DeSantis, and Harrington had their hands full at times, and each was very steady at repelling Maverick scoring threats. The Demons struck first as a nice passing play by Matt Rogers to Peter Escribano to Jack Gillan resulted in the game's first goal. The Mavericks shook off the momentary letdown and continued to press forward. Several minutes after the Demons scored, The Mavericks were awarded a questionable penalty kick after one of their strikers was taken down from behind inside the penalty area. The ball appeared to be nowhere near the infraction. As so often happens in cases such as this, the shooter has the clear advantage and he did not fail on his kick and the score was level at 1-1. The team's resumed their battle for possession of the ball and the tempo of the match quickly took on an edge of your seat feeling. Nearing the end of the first half the Demons were on the attack as Simmons, Mullin, and Rogers were working a scoring attempt. As Simmons was challenging the goalie for a loose ball, he appeared to be taken down by a defender. The threesome came down together hard resulting in Simmons and the Merrick defender being injured. The game was delayed for several minutes while the boys were being attended to and each of them walked off the field for some first aid. A short while later the whistle blew ending the half.

Merrick, playing at home, seemed to adapt to the windy conditions early on and did their best to take advantage of the long punts by their goalkeeper, which easily reached midfield in order to aide their attack. The Demons meanwhile, took a bit longer to get used to playing with the wind. However, with each rush one could tell they were getting closer to scoring, but the simplest touch on a through ball or a ball played wide into forward open space went with the wind which carried it over the end line. The Mavericks continued to distribute the ball quickly and the Demons were equal in step to thwart any scoring threat. However, several minutes into the second stanza the Mavericks were again awarded a penalty kick after a rough challenge to a striker occurred to the side of Ray Leto inside the penalty area. The shooter, Eric Ohlendorf, who earlier converted on a penalty, did so once again shooting beyond the reach of Leto who guessed correctly and the Mavericks had the lead 2-1. Frustration for the Demon boosters set in for the next few minutes as the Demons seemed unable to penetrate the taller Merrick fullbacks for a quality shot at the net. However, the boys kept working. Michael Randazzo, flashing some speed nearly converted on a shot on the doorstep, but the goalie grabbed it before Randazzo could finish. The momentum soon began to build as the Demons won consecutive corner kicks. Although the first one didn't result in a shot at the goal, the second corner by Dale Stasco was headed away by a defender but not out of danger. Greg Vouzianas corralled the ball, squared it to Carney Mahon who found Matt Rogers in a crowd in front of the net for a game tying goal. The goal shifted the momentum and less than two minutes later Danny Simmons, back on the field after being injured, fed Rogers who fired a left footed laser beam into the left upper 90 of the net and the Demons had the lead back at 3-2. With the crowd all excited, Garden City looked to close out the game and they did with a Jack Gillan strike from some distance. The ball hit the crossbar, bounded into the air and although the goalkeeper dove and got his hands on it, the ball was in the net sealing a well fought victory for the Demons 4-2.

The Demons have really gained solid traction the last few weeks having won 7 consecutive games. The boys are now in a first place tie in the Division 2 standings with Albertson. Great job Demons. The boys will play at St. Paul's this Saturday against Manhasset.