By Ted Waddell
MONTICELLO — September 19, 2003 – In Wednesday afternoon’s OCIAA varsity boys’ soccer match, the visiting Warriors of Minisink Valley High School (3-1-1 overall, 2-0 OCIAA Division II) defeated the Monticello Panthers, 6-1.
At the 37:00 mark in the first half, Liam Welsh scored for Minisink on an assist by Neil Siena.
About three minutes later, the Warriors were up 2-0, as Sam Rogers put one into the net on an assist by Brent Sauchuk.
Monticello (2-3-1, 0-3 OCIAA Division II) scored its only goal approximately 10 minutes into the contest, as Oshane Tate fired one past the Minisink keeper off an assist by Edwin Angel.
The Warriors responded with two unanswered goals to make it a 4-1 match in the first half. Welsh scored on an assist by Jacob DeBlock at about 25:00, and a couple of minutes later, Shawn Manzi scored off an assist by Sam Rogers.
In the second half, Minisink Valley ruled the field.
In the opening minute, Welsh scored on an assist from Rogers, and approximately three minutes later, Rogers scored on an assist from Welsh.
Chi Woo Lee anchored the net for Monticello, while both Jason Whitehead and Matt Mottola saw playing time defending the Warriors goal. Lee was credited with seven saves, while Whitehead recorded three saves and Mottola two.
“It was a good game, played well by both teams,” Minisink Valley Coach Pete DeMarco said.
Monticello Coach Kevin O’Shea has been coaching boys’ varsity soccer at the school for the past 14 years. This is his seventh season as head coach.
“I was real happy with their effort today,” he said. “We played 80 minutes of hard soccer . . . we were obviously outmatched, but I was really proud of our efforts and who I put out there on the field.”
O’Shea added that three starters were benched because they were “banged up a little bit.”
“But the guys coming off the bench gave us some good minutes,” he said.
Next year, the wake of the state’s refiguring of the classification of schools – where the numbers of students equate to what class a school is assigned for sports competitions – O’Shea said Monticello Central School will go back to being considered a Class B school from its current Class A status. As an “A” school, Monticello competes against some of the largest schools in Section IX.