Deja vu all over again

The Wildcats’ game at St. Pauls’ followed much the same pattern as the previous week’s game against Proctor. It began with each team connecting on a variety of long passes as they tried to get a sense of the other team’s strengths, and then KUA settled in to control much of the play despite facing what was at times a blustery wind in their faces. St Pauls’ had some very fast attackers, but Ollie Cozzi and Jacob Hebbel anchored the center of the KUA defense, communicating well, and Michael Jung, Aiden Kelly and Will Stedina all did outstanding jobs as outside defenders. Evan Crandlemire and Andile Muhlauri controlled the ball in the middle of the field, and KUA scored first when Henry Trimpi blasted a shot in off a perfect pass from Will Sewell.  The Wildcats had more great opportunities, including a cross from Henry Trimpi where Jacob Rimberg made a perfect run in from the right side and almost scored on a header, but the half ended at 1 -  0. St. Pauls’ scored on a long ball early in the second half to tie the game, and then went ahead on a free kick from just outside the 18’ line that went over the KUA defenders’ wall and just into the top left-hand corner of the net. Goalkeeper Cam de Tolla played very well, patrolling his goal area aggressively, and, in truth, both St Pauls’ goals came on impressive shots that Cam had no chance on. The last five minutes of the match saw sustained pressure from the Wildcats with the back defensive line playing very far up but dropping back when they needed to. KUA created three strong chances in the closing minutes, but the St. Pauls’ keeper made several impressive saves and the game ended at 2 – 1. A frustrating result, certainly, but the boys played well against a strong opponent. Next up is a home game against Vermont Academy.