KUA hosted league leading Brewster Academy. Brewster, coming off an impressive 17-8 win over Holderness Monday afternoon, attacked the Wildcat net off the opening face-offs with clear intentions to maintain their momentum. Tim McNair stifled the early round of shots to give the Wildcats a shot of confidence and inspiration. KUA’s Max Abendroth was the first on either team to beat a goalie, only to hear the ball strike the crossbar. Moments later, Brewster scored off a quick transition to take the game’s first lead. Brewster scored their second goal less than two minutes later, but KUA’s CJ Frates, off a feed from Ian Timpone, scored to keep the Wildcats within one. In the second quarter, KUA scored to tie the score when Sam Wyskiel fed Drew Simoneau for a blast past the Brewster keeper. Brewster scored the next two, but again, the Wildcats came back with a goal of their own when Simoneau scored off a Connor Barrett assist with 3 minutes remaining in the quarter. At the half, Brewster led 5-3.
In the third quarter, both teams battled back and forth for the opening seven minutes of the second half. Solid goal keeping on the both sides of the field and great hustle by the KUA midfielders kept the game tight. Zabarle Kollie, Tommy O’brien, and Ryan Lund kept the pressure on the Brewster midfielders. KUA’s first midfield unit of Chris Morse, Drew Simoneau, Sam Wyskiel, Jon Spencer focused their energies on the offensive end and challenging the visitors , and Connor Barrett in transition. Long Poles Spencer King and Connor Bailey gave up little ground to the Brewster midfielders and forced key turnovers up near the midline. Key to the Wildcat effort was the defensive play and confident clearing by Miles Hancock, Andrew Kelly, and Dennis Kravchenko.
Despite the Wildcats’ perseverance, Brewster stretched the lead to 8-3 at the end of the 3rd quarter. In the 4th, both teams traded goals and the game ended 9-4. KUA (3-9) gets just one day of rest before returning to action Friday at 4pm when they host St. Paul’s on Pope Field.