Elmira District Boys Soccer

Goshen scores two late goals for 2-0 soccer victory. Star-Gazette November 9, 2006 MILTON, N.Y. -- The Elmira Free Academy boys soccer team's season came to a close Wednesday afternoon with a 2-0 loss to Section 9 champion Goshen in a New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A quarterfinal game at the Hudson Valley Sportsdome. Goshen's Patrick Robinson scored off a corner kick with about 13 minutes left to break a scoreless tie. Robert Barloe netted the second goal off a direct kick about a minute later. Goshen (17-1-1) advances to play Byram Hills in the state semifinals Saturday. EFA, which won its first sectional title in 17 years this season, finishes with a 9-7-3 record. "We're extremely proud," EFA coach Derek Hamilton said. "We have six seniors this year, with four seeing regular playing time. I'm happy to send them out on this note (winning a sectional title) after all the hard work they put in." Hamilton said his team, ranked ninth in the state in Class A, played well against fourth-ranked Goshen. Although Goshen ended up with a 13-3 shot advantage and 10-2 edge in corner kicks, Hamilton said the Blue Devils gave up few quality scoring chances. "I'm very happy with how we played," Hamilton said. "We shut down their main scorer, we won a lot of 50-50 balls in midfield. The majority of the game was in the neutral part of the field." It took what Hamilton described as an "absolutely tremendous" goal to get Goshen on the scoreboard. Robinson headed a corner kick out of the air and into the back of the net past Academy goalkeeper Bobby McGinnis. Hamilton said McGinnis was victimized by the poorly lit field inside the dome, setting up Goshen's second score. Hamilton said with the lines on the field tough to see, McGinnis stepped over the line at the top of the 18-yard line for the first time this season, giving the Gladiators a direct kick. Barloe then booted the ball in past McGinnis, who barely got a hand on it. EFA's best chance to score came on a shot by Kevyn Rustici from about 25 yards out with the score still 0-0. Hamilton said Goshen goalie Brandon Levine came up with "an unbelievable save." "If that goal goes in, it's a different game," Hamilton said. With a good chunk of this year's team expected back next season, Hamilton said Academy has reason for optimism after Wednesday's loss. "This year going in we knew we were underdogs, but next year since we return 13 players, we'll have a little higher expectations for ourselves."

EFA boys triumph Three local teams fall in finals. Star-Gazette November 5, 2006 Area soccer teams went 1-for-4 Saturday in Section 4 championship games. The Elmira Free Academy boys emerged with the Class A crown after topping Owego Free Academy 1-0 at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta. In the two other boys games in Oneonta involving local teams, Vestal edged Horseheads 2-1 in Class AA, and Marathon downed Notre Dame 4-1 in Class C. In the Class C girls final at Binghamton Alumni Stadium, Notre Dame lost 5-0 to Lansing. BOYS •EFA 1, Owego 0: Kevyn Rustici scored the game's only goal and Bobby McGinnis made 10 saves as Elmira Free Academy blanked Owego for its first sectional soccer championship since 1989. Rustici scored early in the second half off a flip-throw from Shane Scott. Rustici headed the throw-in past the Owego goalie into the far corner of the net. Academy (9-6-3) then held off Owego (11-3-5) to earn a spot in intersectionals against Section 9 champion Newburgh. The game is tentatively scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Hudson Valley Sportsdome in Milton. "They pressured and pressured the entire first half, the entire second half," EFA coach Derek Hamilton said. "With the way Bobby McGinnis was playing and our entire defense as a whole, I just knew we weren't going to give up a bad goal. It was going to take quite an effort to get one past us." McGinnis finished with 10 saves, including a diving stop of a shot targeted for the corner in the first half. Hamilton, in his second season as head coach, is a 1996 graduate of EFA who played high school soccer for Sam Kutchukian. He said he and assistant coach Zach Sarno, also a '96 EFA grad, wanted to return the Blue Devils to the type of program they had under Kutchukian. He said the players have responded and quickly adapted to the system installed by the coaching staff. "We play with so much heart on a game to game basis," Hamilton said. "We may not be the most talented team every time we step on the field, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a group of guys that play with more heart and more intensity than the guys we have. "What we see right now is the culmination of the last two seasons. Last year we were losing games with regularity, but they were close games. This year, after a year's maturity, we settled down and started winning those one-goal games."

Four area soccer teams have title shots today By Andrew Legare alegare@stargazette.com Star-Gazette November 4, 2006 Section 4 soccer championship game CLASS A BOYS •Who: Elmira Free Academy (8-6-3) vs. Owego Free Academy (11-2-5) •When: 1:30 p.m. today •Where: Soccer Hall of Fame, Oneonta With four high school teams playing for sectional championships today, much has already been proved as far as the local soccer scene is concerned. It's been proved that the feeder programs in the area, such as the Chemung Valley Soccer Association and the Soaring Capital Soccer Club, are having an impact. With Elmira Free Academy and Horseheads in sectional boys finals, it's been proved that teams from the Southern Tier Athletic Conference's West division can compete with, and beat, Binghamton-area teams that have shown up in the national rankings in recent years. With the Notre Dame and Lansing girls playing each other for the Class B title, the Interscholastic Athletic Conference has proved it can play with teams from the bigger schools in the Binghamton area. And with the Notre Dame boys playing in the Class C final, it's been proved that there's more than just the girls soccer team at that high school. The point is, win or lose, today is a good day for soccer in the Elmira area. "It's good for this area, to say the least," Horseheads coach Curt Grottenthaler said. "It's very exciting to see as many teams from our area playing as there are. It speaks volumes for the youth programs and what they are doing with the kids." Class A boys: EFA vs. Owego Elmira Free Academy's players have shown that when they get knocked down, they'll get back on their feet quickly and be prepared to deliver the next blow. This is the same EFA team that lost 11-0 to Horseheads to start the season, then beat the Blue Raiders. It's also the same group that gave up a tying goal to Maine-Endwell in the closing moments of the Class A semifinals, only to rebound and beat the Spartans on penalty kicks to qualify for today's game against Owego. "We kind of possess a never quit attitude," Academy coach Derek Hamilton said. "We were really shell-shocked when Maine-Endwell scored that goal with 20 seconds to go. We thought we had that game wrapped up. I think we showed a lot of perseverance and it showed a lot about our team that we eventually got a victory." EFA, the top seed, faces a third-seeded Owego team that knocked off second-seeded Johnson City to get here. However, with its No. 7 state ranking in Class A, Owego might actually be considered the favorite today. EFA is ranked 19th. "They have a ton of speed," Hamilton said. "They have some big ball-winners in the back. They have two center-midfielders with outstanding motors -- they run all day." Hamilton said he usually goes 16 players deep in a game, something that has been needed when players were lost to injury or for other reasons. Kevyn Rustici leads Academy with nine goals, with a lot of balance behind him. Hamilton said the key for his players today will be to settle down and play their game. Said Hamilton: "The first thing we have to do is make every attempt not to come out flat and not be overwhelmed or shell-shocked by the tremendous atmosphere of 10 games going on in the same day in what would be the Mecca of U.S. soccer at the Hall of Fame."

EFA, Horseheads boys win soccer semifinals Star-Gazette October 28, 2006 The Elmira Free Academy boys soccer team advanced to the Section 4 Class A championship game Friday after beating Maine-Endwell on penalty kicks. "It was probably the most exciting game I've ever been involved in," EFA coach Derek Hamilton said. The game was tied 1-1 after two halves, two 10-minute overtime periods and two more five-minute overtime periods. Academy then won the penalty-kick shootout 3-1, with Tyler Sampsell, Kevyn Rustici and Ryan Bordinger converting in the extra session. EFA goalie Bobby McGinnis made nine saves. Hamilton said his goalie had "two unbelievable saves" during penalty kicks. "He played absolutely phenomenal for us," Hamilton said. "Bobby McGinnis kept us in the game with three or four unbelievable saves." Joe Barbaro scored for EFA in regulation and Bradley Kuzawinski scored for M-E (11-4-1), ranked No. 18 in the state in Class A, with two seconds left. M-E goalie Colin Pierce also had a big game. "We had a few chances in overtime and regulation, including a penalty kick that Colin Pierce made a phenomenal save on," Hamilton said. "The goalie for Maine-Endwell played unbelievably. He almost single-handedly kept them in the game with some unbelievable saves." EFA (8-6-3) will play Owego in the title game next Saturday at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta.

Elmira Free Academy pressured Bath for 80 minutes, but couldn't get the goal they needed to win the game in regulation. Kevyn Rustici hit the post on a 25-yard direct kick with about 5 minutes to play as EFA found themselves limited to 10-men on a questionable double yellow card issued to one of thier players late in the match. Even with 10-men, EFA created scoring opportunities before eventually falling 5-4 in penalty kicks to Bath. "We pressured and pressured, but just couldn't get that one goal we needed," stated coach Hamilton. "I feel as if we were the better team tonight, but anything can happen when the game gets to PK's. Bath was given a gameplan and stuck to it." Hamilton said that Bath played with 5 defenders in the back to limit any transition EFA might have had.