Learning Curve
Burke Shows How It’s Done As Young Sullivan West Squad Learns On The Fly
John S. Burke Catholic 9, Sullivan West 1
By RICHARD A. ROSS
rross@sportsinsightsny.com
Scenes from the SW/Burke boys soccer game (Clockwise): Sullivan West senior Richard Lander advances the ball while Burke's Brian Leahey defends. Burke's Chris Morino has a step on Sullivan West's Karl Schmidt.. SW senior John Masten gets his first experience in the cage.Burke's John Barajas and Sullivan West's Connor Lovgren vie for a ball. Going airborne are SW's Eli Vaknin and Burke's Jake Manna. Richard Lander is a junior with year-round experience and looks to play at college two years hence. A gorgeous fall day provides the backdrop as SW's Tyler Groh and Burke's Marc Torres eye a ball in the air.Sullivan West's Greg Stevenson looks to hold sway as Burke's Zack Rufer is right behind him. The 2011 Sullivan West Bulldogs. Torres drives one home as Masten looks on.
JEFFERSONVILLE, NY—Facing a Burke team that not only won Section Nine Class B a year ago, but got all the way to the state finals before losing 1-0 to Skaneateles, a young and inexperienced Sullivan West team was availed of a real clinic on how the game is played by an elite team. The result was a 5-0 lead a the half and a 9-1 result.
Fortunately Burke Coach Robert Dickover saw fit to give valuable playing minutes to his entire bench, otherwise we could have been looking at a far more devastating outcome. This was Burke’s first game and by the looks of things, they’re going to be awfully tough to beat in Division IV or Section Nine for that matter.
For Sullivan West Coach Debbie Owen this year presents a new set of challenges. Last June a cadre of experienced seniors headed out the door and even that group which had years of playing failed to achieve a .500 mark in 2010. So with only a handful of players returning with prior experience and a senior in John Masten in goal who has never played soccer at the varsity level before, this outcome was far from surprising.
“We have a lot of seniors who came out for the first time and we have only a handful of veterans including Sam Smith, Richard Lander, Greg Stevenson, Eli Vaknin, Christian Calvo, Tyler Groh and Andrew Siegel,” noted Owen whose team lost 4-2 to Port Jervis in the season opener following just one scrimmage. Rainy weather this fall hasn’t helped a bit.
Owen had planned on having John Chudick in goal this year who got work in that capacity last year but Chudick is destined for surgery and now the keeping will have to be done by Masten and Siegel who had ten and seven saves respectively in this game against Burke who got a goal from Brian Mortimer just 39 seconds into the game. Burke kept the ball in the SW end seemingly at will and registered a goal from standout senior Zack Rufer just two minutes later. By the time Marc Torres had made it 3-0 with 25:02 remaining and Rufer added two more, the die was cast.
Owen feels her team lacks front speed with experience and is hopeful that some kids will learn the system quickly and step up to the challenge. The Westies will face another league challenge on September 16, this one against neighboring rival Liberty.
Burke’s upcoming games include a non-league tilt with Valley Central before taking on Division IV rival O’Neill.
Burke Catholic goals: Zack Rufer 3; Brian Mortimore; Brad Howerter; Brian Leahey; Marc Torres; Paul Degman.
Burke Catholic assists: Mortimore; Kevin Jiminez.
Sullivan West goals: Richard Lander.
Sullivan West assists: Christian Calvo.
Goalie saves: BC – Andrew Nutt 2; SW – Masten 10, Siegel 7.
Team records: Burke Catholic 1-0 (1-0 OCIAA); Sullivan West 0-2 (0-1 OCIAA).
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