Knights earn late tying goal, top South in overtime
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Trailing by a goal late in the game the West Windsor-Plainsboro North boys soccer needed a big play and Nana Owusu-Boahen provided just what the Knights needed.
With just over three minutes left the senior made the type of effort play the Knights needed, saving the ball just before it went over the end line and somehow putting it out in front of the goal where David Yaffe-Bellany finished to knot the game and force overtime. In the extra session, Chris St. Amour scored to lift North to a 2-1win over WW-P South.
”I was just thinking we needed to get a goal to put ourselves back in the game,” Owusu-Boahen said. “I was just going to do everything I could to help us get it in there. I didn’t see him there.”
But Yaffe-Bellany saw the ball well and was able to finish off the goal that tied the game and put the Knights in position to win in overtime.
”He always fights hard when he is in that position so I knew if I was in the right area he would get it through to me and luckily he did,” Yaffe-Bellany said. “A different player might have just let it roll over the end line. But he fought and we won because of it.”
In overtime, the Pirates started well and had three great chances to score and win the game. But the Knights came back on the counterattack and St. Amour scored off a feed from Aathreya Thoppul to win the game.
”It was effort based,” WW-P North coach Trevor Warner said of the goal that tied the game. “It was funny that we were down around the end line because we talked about being a little more persistent in the box. We talked about finishing our runs and just go, go, go. And Nana kept that play alive. The kid had position on him but he managed to squirm out of it and put a ball in for David and it was a great finish.”
North was able to overcome a first-half own goal and the win lifted the Knights to 4-1-2 overall and 2-0-2 in overtime games.
”We got unlucky on the own goal but other than that I thought we played pretty well,” Owusu-Boahen said. “We’re more of a second-half team. We kind of go down normally and then we like to come back in the second half. A lot of our games have been going into overtime. We work hard in overtime and half the time we have come out with a tie and the other half we come out with a win.”
The win was the third straight for the Knights, who have not scored more than two goals in a game yet this season but manage to find ways to win.
”We lost a lot of good players from last year but we have bounced back,” Yaffe-Bellany said. “We worked hard during the preseason and we’re enjoying the results from that. We run a lot during the preseason and that prepares us well for these situations. Conceding the goal just before halftime was a blow, especially the way it went in, but at halftime our coach said we were doing the right things moving the ball around and we kept doing that in the second half.”
South, which fell to 3-4-1, played well for most of the game and looked like it was going to score in overtime before the Knights reversed the field of play and scored to win the game.
”Our start was slow and then the next 30 minutes or so I thought we played well,” South coach Bryan Fisher said. “I thought it was a just own goal. I thought we worked hard for it. In the second half I think there was more of a hope we were going to win. I don’t think we played hard enough to win. We played too much defense and let them dictate the play.
”In overtime I thought we were tremendous for six minutes and created three good chances. An inch here or there and we might have gotten the win.”
The game was part of a day to raise awareness for Team Dystonia. Noel Valero, the father of former South player Eric Valero, is the Founder and President of the American Dystonia Society and he organized the event with the help of both coaches.
”He wanted to get the word out,” Warner said. “He did it all himself. He made up the shirts and both teams wore them in warmups. It was something to get the word out and I was one of the people who was educated. He did a great job with it.”
Added Fisher: “His son, Eric, played for us and graduated in 2007. It is just great to have the community out here and raise some awareness for the disease.”
For more information on Dystonia, visit the ADS website at www.dystonia.us.