Garden City Titans vs. Huntington Strikers

Brian Leggett

On a beautiful fall Saturday morning the Titans hosted the Huntington Strikers. Garden City started off strongly and applied pressure to the Strikers defense for much of the first half of the game. With about ten minutes left to go in the half, Owen Prendergast passed the ball in front of the goal to Michael Franco, who struck the ball past the Strikers goalie. Unfortunately for the Titans, the Strikers answered back quickly with a goal to tie the game a few minutes later. Joe Leighton played a nearly perfect half as keeper, with help from defenders Jack Riceman, John Schlichte, Brian Leggett and Conor Lehan.

In the second half of the game, Huntington scored two goals in close succession on perfectly aimed corner kicks in front of the goal, catching the Titans defense off their guard. Next it was the Titans' turn to score on a corner kick from Jack Roscoe, which Jack Riceman sent in past the Strikers' goaltender towards the far post. Bobby McLoughlin and Mark Luglio also kept the pressure on with good passing, and kept the ball moving around in the Strikers end of the field.

Mark Luglio

While it seemed that the game's momen-tum was shifting back towards the Titans, the team just could not execute on its next few penetrations into the Strikers' end of the field. Huntington scored its fourth goal on a long shot taken from halfway to midfield, and followed it up with another goal on a breakaway past the last Titans defender. John Schlichte had an excellent half as goalkeeper, but simply did not get the help he needed from his defense. When the referee blew the final whistle, the Titans had lost 5-2 to a strong Strikers' team. The Titans will be preparing in practice this week for a tough Massapequa game next weekend.

Owen Prendergast