By: Joe Keyser
LEROY, N.Y. --- After a long, wet, cold game with no score, LeRoy Sophomore Jack Currin finally punched in a goal with 5:18 left in golden goal time to end it 1-0 over Geneseo. The LeRoy Varsity boys soccer team is on a hot streak.
“Jack's been playing really good lately,” LeRoy Goalie Grady Gilligan said. “You know, [he’s hit] four overtime game winners, which is huge. All four by him. I think Jack's helping us a lot. He’s a great captain.”
Gilligan made seven saves during the game, which coincidentally is the number that Currin wears.
“Grady's been on a hot streak lately,” Currin said. “On a hot streak. We've had, I think it's like, eight games with one loss right now, and a lot of shutouts. so good to Grady.”
The second half had Gilligan under fire, but the ice wall stood tall, saving the ball five times.
Early in the game both teams struggled to gain dominance. There were lots of long passes to reset the field. These long passes, paired with the constant stabbing at the ball, caused the game to stay in the middle third of the field for the majority of the first half.
In the second half, the soccer action heated up more, though the weather did not. Shots on goal were more frequent from both teams, though none managed to find the mark. Action continued to heat up as LeRoy players fell to the ground several times, resulting in Geneseo getting fouls.
At the end of 80 minutes, the scoreboard still read 0-0. After a 10-minute pause in action, LeRoy started with the ball. Both teams came out to this 10-minute sudden death period with a new energy that had not been seen all game. It only took 1:15 for the first shot to be taken, but Geneseo Goalie Dominic Agosto made a diving save. The ball kept getting traded back and forth between teams for the next two minutes, until, at 4:00 into golden goal time, Geneseo’s defender fouled Currin, sending him flying. Currin got up and lined up for the set piece. He shot, but the ball got headed around. Eventually, after the ball got passed around for 42 seconds, Currin put his right foot onto the ball, and drilled a low shot towards the right side of the net and ended the game with his goal.
“Who still has their legs deep in the game,” LeRoy Head Boys’ Soccer Coach Bob Hammer said. “[Conditioning] had a lot to do with that for these guys tonight.”
LeRoy’s victory over Geneseo (11-3-1) brings them to a 7-7-1 record this season, one more reason they believe 7 is their lucky number this season.
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