The top-seeded Wolcott boys soccer team got off to a slow start in their state tournament opener against No. 16 Killingly on Tuesday afternoon at Joe Monroe Field.
Sure, the Eagles scored less than 16 minutes into the game, but they only led by that one goal at halftime of their Class M second round game.
Wolcott turned it around in the second half, scoring three times to run away with a 4-0 win over its Eastern Connecticut Conference foe. The Eagles earned another home game Friday, a quarterfinal against No. 24 Weston, at 6 p.m.
“It’s really good,” senior captain Parker Zynda said about getting the first win. “We’re definitely glad to get that win at home, and we can’t wait for the next game.”
There was a steady wind blowing, which was at Wolcott’s backs in the first half. The Eagles played too many balls long, however, and went away from their strength. In the second half, Wolcott played to its strength, its speed, and moved the ball well amongst teammates. The result was beautiful offensive soccer, and three goals in about 15 minutes of gametime.
“I think it tires teams out because we’ve got a bunch of fast guys,” Wolcott head coach Bryan Plona said. “It’s not just one or two guys. We’ve got speed on all sides of the ball, so teams get tired defending us.”
The first half saw JJ Brenes connect for a goal off assists from Axel Kelsey and Zynda. In the second half, the Eagles got fouled and secured a free kick from close to the near corner. Zynda played a ball on the ground to Tyson Brenes, who one-timed it off the Killingly goalkeeper and in for a 2-0 lead with 29:50 left to play.
“We were getting them upset very easily, and they were just trying to foul and foul, and that’s how we got our second and third goals,” Zynda said.
The third goal came when a Wolcott player was fouled in the box, resulting in a penalty kick. Tyson Brenes drilled the penalty kick for a goal and a 3-0 advantage with 17:08 to go. For the fourth and final goal, Damien Georges quickly found Tyson Brenes, who passed to Nick DeMelo. DeMelo got in close and was able to deflect the ball into the goal while making contact with the keeper. There were 15 minutes to play, but the game was well in hand for the Eagles. Wolcott put the clamps on Killingly’s offense throughout, using its experienced backfield – three senior starters and senior keeper Sam Berninger (four saves) – to control play.
Plona was happy with the second half effort, but wants to see Wolcott come out faster against Weston, a member of the South-West Conference, on Friday.
“We’ve got to play the way we can play. Today, it was a little slower start, but we’ve got to come right off the bat, ready to go,” Plona said. “We’ve got to finish our chances. I think we could have finished two or three chances earlier in the game that would have made the game a little bit more difficult for them.
Plona added: “When we get chances against good teams like this, we’ve got to put them away.”
CAPTION: Wolcott senior back David Cardinale controls the ball against Killingly during their Class M second round boys soccer game on Tuesday at Joe Monroe Field.
GALLERY: Here are my photos from Tuesday’s game.
