By Ted Waddell
FALLSBURG — October 12, 2001 – The hometeam Fallsburg Comets boys’ varsity soccer team took the wind out of the Tuxedo Tornadoes booters 3-1 during Wednesday afternoon’s OCIAA Division IV Conference game.
Last Friday, the teams tied 2-2 at Tuxedo (3-2-1/4-5-2 Division IV) in a hard-fought match that tallied up about 40 penalties. On Wednesday, at the house of the Comets, the game was aggressive but kept in check by the coaches and hard charging refs.
With the win, Fallsburg (10-1-1, 5-0-1 Division IV) clinched at least a tie for the division title. The Comets would clinch the title outright with another win. (Fallsburg played division foe Sullivan West yesterday, too late for inclusion here.)
The Comets drew first blood in the opening frame as Christian Huezo scored at 24:37 on an assist by goalkeeper Lionel White. After Tuxedo fired one toward the net, White raced out to grab the shot and threw the ball far downfield, aided by the rule that gives goalkeepers six seconds to make a play at the net. Huezo fielded the ball between a couple of defenders, settled it nicely and put it away to give the hometeam a 1-0 halftime lead.
Stuart Juarez led off the second frame at 7:15 on a through pass from Tony Ruiz-Diaz to beat the Tornadoes keeper on the left side of the cage.
At 10:25, Juarez scored on an assist by Vernon Poole, a play that was set up off a corner kick to make it a 3-0 game.
Tuxedo’s big gun, Heli Minano, finally broke loose from being closely marked by the hometeam to put one into the net on an assist by Mike Monroe at 20:00 to end the game’s scoring at 3-1.
Stats: shots on goal (Fallsburg 31/Tuxedo 18); saves (Fallsburg 13/Tuxedo 19); corner kicks (Fallsburg 5/Tuxedo 3).
As tempers flared briefly after the game, Tuxedo coach Dave Powers declined to comment.
“I thought it was a well played game on both sides,” said Fallsburg coach Paul Marsden. “I’m very pleased that it was a lot cleaner than the last time we played...it was still rough, good aggressive soccer.”
Marsden said he was pleased with the overall quality of play by his team, and credited the midfielders with controlling the game.
“Once we got that first goal and got them on their heels a little bit, we just kept going and going,” he added.