Thursday Boys Soccer Results and Mid Season Report

A quick look at the results from Thursday in Patroon Conference boy's soccer then some mid season talk including top players and teams.

Cairo Durham v. Chatham

This was a chance for either team to really stay in the true race for the Patroon Conference title and the Mustangs made a big statement with a convincing 3-1 win over Chatham. Cairo now must ready themselves for a big test when they travel to ICC on Monday night while the Panthers will host Taconic Hills.

Steven Zwoboda who has been an offensive force for Cairo this year netted 2 more goals while Eberhard netted the third. Marley Carrol scored the Panthers lone goal.

In the net Cory Gransbury made 4 stops in goal for C-D while Steve Oleynek made 6 for Chatham.

Maple Hill v. Hudson

The Wildcats scored a pair of goals in each half en route to a 4-0 victory. Jacob Yager, Corey Legge, Steven Sepowski and Adam Fuller each scored for Maple Hill. David Briggs tallied an assist on all four goals.

In between the pipes Bruce Adams made 2 saves for Maple Hill while Brett Delamater made 7 for Hudson.

The Bluehawks search for their first win of the season on Monday when they host Catskill while Maple Hill will head to Greenville.

Greenville v. Catskill

Despite two teams who have done their fair share of scoring this year these two teams combined for just a single goal as the Spartans headed into Catskill and came away with a 1-0 win. Catskill will now head to Hudson looking to get back on track while the Spartans have a chance to make a statement when they host Maple Hill on Monday.

Mike Sanchez has played very well for Greenville up front this year and did well again with another goal, the game winner on an assist from Cameron Sagan.

In goal Tucker Lewis and Devin Rose combined for 8 saves in the win while Ricky Meyers made 5 stops in the loss.

Ichabod Crane v. Coxsackie Athens

The Riders continued their undefeated season derailing the Indians in Coxsackie 3-0. ICC scored a single goal in the first half when Kyle Kline found the back of the net off a Mitchell Niemeyer assist. Kline scored again in the second half as did Bernie Watt.

Alex Mastrianni made 5 saves for the Riders while Peter Russo made 13 for the Indians.

As written above the Riders have a major showdown Monday night under the lights against Cairo while Indians are off until Wednesday when they will face Taconic Hills.


STANDINGS
1) Ichabod Crane (7-0-1): Vaunted defense hanging tough through injuries
2) Cairo Durham (8-1): Tough, physical team who defends and scores well
3) Chatham (6-2-1): Lost a lot from last year, trying to figure out the pieces
4) Maple Hill (6-3): Skilled team who has yet to put it all together
5) Greenville (4-5): Have the scorers but do not defend at the highest level
6) Coxsackie Athens (3-5-1): A solid team who can defend and score
7) Catskill (2-6-1): Have some individual talent but lack consistent chemistry
8) Taconic Hills (1-7): Another team who has struggled to finish
9) Hudson (0-9): Have struggled to find the back of the net

Mid Season Awards
I hate to say top keeper or striker, because we are half way through the season, so instead at this point I'll go with

1) Top Defensive Unit: ICC: Despite a rash of injuries they've given up I believe a mere 3 goals this season.

2) Top Offensive Unit: MH: Tough call especially since ICC shut them out, but when they are clicking they can put up goals in a hurry.

3) Top Midfield Unit: ICC: The Riders midfield unit is about as talented as any group in recent years around the league. May not have an absolute star recognized by the Section but it's a good group.

4) Biggest Surprise Team: CD: Everyone knew they'd still be pretty good, but this good?

5) Biggest Disappointment Team: Chatham & MH: I know, I know they both lost a ton, but there is enough talent still on these squads to be better than this.

6) Biggest Surprise Player: Will Gauthier from Chatham: I considered Jacob Yager from MH because he's having a great year, but unless you followed modified soccer from 2 years ago or are a Chatham insider you had no idea what an impact Gauthier would have this year.

7) Biggest Disappointment Player: I hate calling any player a disappointment and it's even tougher because I'm going to choose 2 players from the same team, David Briggs and Steven Sepowski from MH. I think both players are having very good seasons but for the Wildcats to get back to the level they should be at these two need to play at the top of their games, every game.

8) MVP: If I must pick an MVP at this point I use a few rules. First your team must be in the top tier of teams, or you as a player must be so good on your bad team that even if you were replaced on your team by the next best player in the league your team is significantly worse. So that leaves us four teams to choose from in ICC, CD, Cha and MH.

I like Yager, Briggs and Sepowski from MH but if you replaced any of them with the top player from one of the other teams is MH any worse? Chatham is tough, they have a good defense as a unit and a lot of players come up big in various games, but no one every game. I like Zwoboda and Zoellner at Cairo but that team is as much about defense as it is offense so that leaves me with undefeated ICC. I look at 4 players here, yes 4! Nick Boardman holds that defense together in the back but an MVP needs some individual stats. I love what Kyle Kline does for this team but it's so passe' to pick the "goal scorer". That leaves me with Will Poetzsch and Mitchell Niemeyer. Both have played center mid, with the first being more a creator, defender and the latter being more of a creator, scorer. It's a virtual toss up for me but I give Niemeyer the edge because of his size, ability to win a ball in the air plus he gets bonus for his seemless move up front to help this team score goals when injuries struck.

So my MVP is Mitchell Niemeyer from ICC.