Colin Burdette wins a header during a loss to New Britain.
By BRIAN JENNINGS
STAFF WRITER
With just one win to date, the season hasn’t gone the way Southington coach Dave Yanosy expected it to.
Injuries continue to plague the Knights, and they still have a long way to go if they are to reach the Class LL tournament for a third-straight year. Yanosy said that if the team can stay positive and recommit themselves to the work, there’s still a really good opportunity for them in October.
“With this team, our mindset is important,” the coach said. “I just told them that we are a good team, and despite injuries we still have a multitude of really good players that are more than capable of playing extremely good soccer.”
Yanosy reminded the team of the 2009 season, when his Knights started the season with an 0-4-2 record and didn’t win a game in September. That team ended up finishing the season at 9-5-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the state tournament as the 24th seed.
“That team recommitted itself to working extremely hard and working their way out of it,” said the coach. “I hope these guys do the same thing because that’s certainly something that they can do.”
The Knights will be back on the turf this week when they travel to divisional NW Catholic (2-3-1) then return home to host Bristol Eastern (2-4) on Friday. The Knights’ leading scorer, Joe Colaccino, is expected to return to the field this week. Southington is currently 1-4-2.
Loss vs. Farmington
SEPT. 25—The Knights suffered their second-straight loss and first shutout of the season after being blanked, 5-0, by Farmington at home on Monday.
“I like how we finished the game,” said Yanosy. “We kept at it and certainly didn’t quit. It’s not really a great consolation, but it’s certainly something that is good for the team from a character-building perspective.”
The Indians netted three goals in the first half and capped off the win with a pair of scores in the second half. Two of Farmington’s goals came off corner and free kicks.
The Knights were held to just three shots on goal without a corner kick. John Griffin saved three shots on goal.
Loss vs. New Britain
SEPT. 28—The struggles continued for the Knights a few days later. They rounded out the week with their third-straight loss after falling by a goal, 2-1, to New Britain (2-5) at home on Thursday.
“Give New Britain credit,” said Yanosy. “They may not have had a ton of chances, but the chances that they had, they buried. That’s kind of what the game comes down to.”
Following a scoreless first half, the Golden Hurricanes netted the first two goals of the game less than two minutes apart in the 58th and 60th minutes. Evan Daddona headed a corner kick in the back of the net in the 64th minute to cut the deficit to one.
Southington controlled possession of the ball in the remainder of the contest, but could not tie the game after having multiple opportunities to score.
“Sometimes, soccer’s a funny game like that,” said Yanosy. “Realistically, it was the same thing in the first half. We had a number of chances that we didn’t cash in on. Sometimes, the longer a game goes like that, a team stays in the game.”
The Knights took 26 shots on goal and eight corners kicks. Griffin finished with three saves on goal.
Elijah Rodriguez returned to field after being out with an injury. Raymond Cocozza left the game with an injury.
For this week’s box scores, click here: (southingtonobserver.com/2017/10/04/weekly-scoreboard-for-the-oct-6-edition). To contact sports writer Brian Jennings, email him at BJennings@SouthingtonObserver.com.