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Blue Hawks eak out victory in final minute against New Milford
11/2/2003
The Southbury Blue Hawks score in the waning moments of this nervous affair against an improving New Milford team. Eric Beatty blasted home a shot that banged off the goal post and in to secure the victory after back and forth action all day.
The Blue Hawks playing on the larger Seman's field for the first time this year, came out strong as usual. After beating the New Milford team in the first game of the season on the smaller Rochambeau field the Blue Hawks continued to put pressure in the New Milford end. The New Milford team was much more organized than in the previous meeting and were ever dangerous with their counter-attacking play led by # 33 (Andonis). His speed often threathened the Hawks back line throughout the first half, but he was never able to get a clear chance.
The Hawks had most of the ball posession, but were not able to get off too many clear chances. Eric Beatty had one shot deflected wide and there were other loose balls in front of the goal in which Garret Young, Scott Hamm and Josh Paulisin each had opportunities to knock in but were ultimately denied by the New Milford back line.
I am sounding like a broken record, but the 2nd half started out the same as the first. The Hawks continued to push forward and get chances on goal, including a breakaway by Garret Young which was stopped by the New Milford Goalkeeper. Chris (Kicker) Francke playing with a bruised knee, kept the middle of the field shored up and distributed passes to teammates and kept getting in the way of New Milfords clearances. Ultimately this kind of determination resulted in Southbury getting one last chance at goal in the final minutes. Derek Domogala moving up from his stopper position and nicely lofted a ball in the air toward Garret Young who got his foot on the ball and was picked up by Eric Beatty. Eric banged a solid right footed shot past the goalkeeper and off the inside of the post. From this reporters angle, it looked like the ball would roll across the goal line and either off the other goal post or across the goal mouth. The screams of the Southbury Parents, Friends, Grandparents and the kids themselves told you that this ball had in fact crossed the line and in. The shot paled in comparison to the forward somersault which Eric did after the goal was declared good by the referee. He actually stuck the landing on but the French Judge gave it a 9.5. This reporter calls it a 10.0.
The Southbury team contained the New Milford team for the next minute or so as the refereee blew the final whistle. The Blue Hawks walked away with a hard earned victory.
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