Two of Tuesday night’s goal scorers, WCA’s Kevon Stephenson (14) and St. Paul’s Charles Scaleese (14), tangle for the ball during their NVL boys soccer tournament quarterfinal in Waterbury.
The WCA and St. Paul boys soccer teams met nearly a month ago at Ray Snyder Sr. Field with the Falcons rallying with two late goals for a draw against the Spartans.
In Tuesday’s Naugatuck Valley League tournament quarterfinal, St. Paul again rallied, but WCA held on this time for a hard-fought 3-2 win. The Spartans will play top-seeded Naugatuck, a 4-0 winner over No. 8 Holy Cross, in Saturday’s first semifinal game at 11:30 a.m. at Seymour High School. No. 3 Wolcott and No. 2 Seymour follow in the next semifinal at 2 p.m.
WCA led, 2-0, at halftime on goals by Kevon Stephenson and Will Rodriguez off assists from Nawayne Hall and Xavier Duarte. Stephenson scored on a breakaway where he and St. Paul keeper Keegan Hill (10 saves) collided at the 13:13 mark. Hill returned to the game in the same half. Another quick strike from Rodriguez made it 2-0. It was the second time in as many games that WCA led St. Paul by that margin at the halftime break.
The lead stretched to 3-0 when Stephenson found Hall for a goal that he shot off the foot of Hill. Things looked bleak for St. Paul, who was playing without all-time leading scorer James Naples (broken nose), and several other players were hobbled. Just like the Sept. 23 matchup, however, the Falcons rallied.
Anthony Gagliardi played a free kick into the box. The ball was deflected, and Jaiden Espirit was there to pound it home for a goal. With 6:36 to play in the game, Charles Scaleese scored off a Gagliardi helper to get St. Paul to within 3-2. The Falcons went after the Spartans to try to get the equalizer, but it wasn’t meant to be. Silas Creaven made nine saves for WCA in the victory.
WCA and Naugatuck met once in the regular season, a Oct. 9 game in Naugatuck that ended in a 2-2 draw.
GALLERY: Here are my photos from Tuesday’s game.
