Elmira District Boys Soccer

ELMIRA -- The newly merged Elmira boys soccer team couldn't have found a much tougher opponent for Tuesday afternoon's home debut at Elmira Free Academy's Marty Harrigan Field.

Defending Southern Tier Athletic Conference and Section 4 Class AA champion Vestal lived up to its trophy case, limiting the Express to one harmless shot and earning a 2-0 victory that was that close only because of a dazzling 11-save effort from Elmira goalie Corey Swarthout.

"At times I thought we played very well. At other times I thought we succumbed to pressure. Overall a good job," Vestal coach Jim Murphy said.

Senior midfielder Jaisen Clark scored both Vestal goals -- one in each half -- as the Golden Bears (2-0, 2-0 STAC) won by shutout for the second time in two games. Turner Antonakos and Alex Monteith had assists.

"That's a class program and they're that good every single year," said Elmira coach Derek Hamilton. "Whenever you come out with a little bit of a slow start, you get punished for it. That's what happened in the first 20 minutes of the game today. We came out with a lack of intensity and we got hurt pretty early on it."

Elmira (0-2, 0-2), which opened its season with a 2-1 loss at Union-Endicott on Thursday, was unable to put together a legitimate scoring chance through the entire 80 minutes.

Murphy said the defenses have an advantage early in the season, though there was more to his players' dominance than the date on the calendar.

"I think the combination of our experienced defenders and being early in the season was the key to our success, as it was in the first game," said Murphy, whose team opened with a 6-0 victory over Corning on Thursday.

Elmira has spent only a few weeks together as a combined team and is still in the growing stage, particularly when it comes to attacking on offense. The high level of pressure applied by the Bears all over the field made that even more evident.

"We're really lacking in cohesion right now, getting the ball off our feet and finding our midfielders," Hamilton said. "If we don't do that, we're going to struggle. We're going to be pinned in like we were for 80 minutes today."

Murphy said his team had problems of its own in figuring out how to deal with Elmira packing players in the middle of the field. He also said Elmira's pressure on the ball was very effective.

The Bears didn't get on the scoreboard until Clark booted a ball out of midair into the left side of the net with 4 minutes, 39 seconds left in the opening half. His second goal came with 15:13 to play.

Vestal twice had shots hit the post and other opportunities fly just over the net. But most of the Bears' best chances were denied by Swarthout, who made several diving stops.

"The first two games he's been incredible, just making some saves that the majority of goalkeepers let in," Hamilton said. "The average is if you make one or two nice saves per game, you're a pretty good goalkeeper. He's made six or eight incredible saves the first two games."

Scoring - Clark (2-0), Antonakos (0-1), Montieth (0-1)

Shots/Corners - Elmira (1-0), Vestal (13-9)

Saves - Elmira (Swarthout - 12), Vestal (Calvey - 1)