By JR Parachini and Joe Ragozzino
NUTLEY and CRANFORD – The Columbia High School boys’ varsity soccer team defeated Nutley, 3-2, Monday, Sept. 18, at Nut.ley in a Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division game to improve to a 3-2 record.
Avery Coreschi had two goals and fellow senior midfielder Cameron Donald had the other goal for the Cougars.
Senior forward Joe Dente collected two assists and senior midfielder Sammy Freedson had an assist for CHS. Junior goalie Sam Maidenberg made nine saves and senior goalie Jack Dossett had one save in the win.
In their previous game, the Cougars dropped a 1-0 decision to Cranford on Saturday, Sept. 16, in Cranford. Cranford head coach Greg Campbell was not particularly pleased with his team’s performance. “The second half was one of the worst halves we’ve played,” said Campbell, in his sixth season at the helm of the Cranford Cougars. “We looked tired, we didn’t possess the ball, there was a delay in distribution and we gave up a lot of fouls in our half.”
CHS head coach Josh Russotto was also not enthralled with how his squad competed.
“Attitude and mindset,” said Russotto, in his fourth season at the helm of the Cougars. “One team came ready to play.”
Somebody had to win, right?
Actually, that’s not accurate. Since it was a regular season game with nothing on the line, the match could have ended in a tie following two scoreless overtime periods.
It turned out that the host team was a bit more fortunate as the Cranford Cougars produced the game’s only goal in this out-of-county clash contested at Memorial Field.
Cranford won its third straight – all three wins in the last five days – to improve to 3-1. Cranford senior Pierre LeDorze – a non-starter in his first year on varsity – netted his first varsity goal off an assist from senior Noah West just less than six minutes from intermission.
To start the week, the Cougars defeated Verona, 1-0, Sept. 11, at CHS’ Ritzer Field in a Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division contest. Junior midfielder Julian Lyons scored on an assist from Avery Coreschi. Maidenberg made 12 saves for the shutout.
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