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When it was all over, Arlington boys soccer coach Gary Montalto had some words of wisdom for his charges.
“You found a way to get the winner,” he said. “That’s what this tournament is all about.”
But what a winner it was.
Top-seeded Arlington held off a stiff challenge from No. 9 seed New Rochelle in the Section I, Class AA quarterfinals with a 1-0 win at home on Oct. 30, but the team needed overtime – and a “golden goal” in the sudden-death period – to do it.
“That was way more intense than your average quarterfinal match,” said Montalto, who watched senior midfielder Brandon Fried put away the winner off a free kick at the 12-minute mark in overtime. “Both teams played at a very high level.”
After a scoreless game that saw Arlington spend much of the second half in the New Rochelle zone, overtime kicked off with some renewed charges by the Admirals. Awarded a free kick about 30 yards from the New Rochelle goal, Arlington managed to direct the ball past diving New Rochelle goalkeeper Buffi Perez to forward Ethan Ashong, who headed the ball near the goal mouth. The ball hit a New Rochelle defender’s hand, but with no whistle, Fried slammed home the goal to send the Admirals to the next round and the vocal home crowd into a frenzy.
“We knew coming in that New Rochelle was a very good team, and they gave us a very tough game today,” said Fried. “We just kept trying to push the ball down the field.”
The first half saw the teams trade scoring chances, though both goalies made some key stops to preserve the tie. In the second half, Arlington’s size and strength advantage started to pay off, but every Admiral rush was thwarted by the staunch New Rochelle defense.
“We wanted to attack from the outside and keep crosses coming in both ways,” said Montalto. “In the second half, we were able to do that a little bit more, but we couldn’t break through.”
Both teams had plenty of chances in the half – a New Rochelle forward sent a one-on-one shot over the net, while a misdirected Arlington kick swerved just out of bounds near the opposing goalpost – but Perez kept his team in the game with some big saves.
But the overtime period belonged to Fried and the Admirals.
“We’re just excited to get ready for the next game,” he said.
Arlington next played Horace Greeley, the No. 5 seed, in the Sectional semifinal on Nov. 1, after the Beat’s press time. For updates, visit www.weeklybeat.com.
