By Frank Rizzo
MONTICELLO — September 7, 2001 – One game does not a star make, but Fallsburg boys’ soccer coach Paul Marsden may have found his next goal scorer.
Sophomore Bakary Ceesay did not start Wednesday’s non-league match against host Monticello. But once he came off the bench, he made things happen.
“Give him credit, he created his own opportunities,” Monticello coach Kevin O’Shea said after Ceesay victimized his Panthers for three goals in Fallsburg’s 3-2 win. “We scrimmaged them last week, so we knew about him. With his speed, he can beat you off the dribble.”
The Panthers took the early lead on a goal by Ben Morganstein, assisted by John Meddaugh.
Ceesay answered at the 32-minute mark, winning a ball deep and beating Monticello keeper Erik Johnson from a sharp angle.
One minute later Ceesay pounced on a loose ball and one-timed past Johnson to give the Comets a 2-1 lead.
Bryan Ortiz gave the hosts a tie when he blasted a low shot past Lionel White. Krystian Krol got credited with the assist.
The Monties reclaimed positional dominance in the second half and for a while peppered White.
Ceesay, as usual, responded for the visitors. After a couple of dangerous forays near the Panthers net — one which resulted in his shot hitting the post, the African-born player dribbled his way through a couple of defenders and booted his shot past Johnson for the inner.
Krol and Ortiz had their chances in the waning minutes; Krol shot straight at White, while Ortiz’s blast skittered wide.
The Monticello scorebook credited White with five saves, Johnson with six.
“We have 11 seniors and 11 juniors and I expect to be very competitive,” said Marsden, whose Comets play in the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division IV with Tri-Valley, Sullivan West, Tuxedo and Chester.
“My defense isn’t really [polished] yet, and the forwards have to think one or two touches instead of dribbling,” Marsden summed up his team’s negatives so far. “We had trouble defending the corner kick and the long throw-in today. We’ll be making changes.”
He added, “I’m still trying to find the team that works. I’ve got to find the 10 that will do the job.”
O’Shea was left impressed by the Comets.
“I think Fallsburg will have a good chance to win their division,” O’Shea said. “Teams will have a hard time matching [Fallsburg’s] speed up front.”
O’Shea said Fallsburg’s greater depth on Wednesday was a factor.
“We had three starters missing and that hurt us. Fallsburg was fresher toward the end,” he said.
O’Shea noted that his squads have made sectionals three of the last four years and he wants to continue that tradition.
“It’s going to be a real fight for us to get into sectionals,” O’Shea said. “Goshen and Cornwall are reloading and [James I.] O’Neill and [John S.] Burke are always tough. And Ellenville has the best team I’ve seen there in more than 10 years.
“We’ve got to be ready to play everybody,” O’Shea said of the OCIAA Division III.
Second-year sweeper Andrew Simon, one of five seniors on the squad, anchors the defense for the Monties.
“He’s a big asset to us back there,” O’Shea noted.
O’Shea said he had high expectations for junior striker John Meddaugh.
“It’s his third year on varsity and we need for him to become a legitimate goal scorer,” O’Shea said.
Juniors Bryan Ortiz and Derek Kilcoin will patrol the important midfield area for the Monties, and as O’Shea pointed out, “a lot of success in soccer depends on controlling the midfield.”
Johnson is in his second year in the net, and “he’s made nice progress from last season,” said O’Shea.
The veteran coach is also high on Krol, from Poland via Brooklyn.
He is the first eighth grader to start for Monticello in O’Shea’s 12 seasons on the Monticello soccer program.