A Satisfying Final Game

The KUA Boys’ JV ended this unusual season not with a whimper, but with a bang. The first three games this year were decided by one goal, and last week’s game against Holderness looked to be the same before the Bulls scored two in the last four minutes to pull away. In the final game, the Wildcats hosted a strong team from Brewster. In the opening five minutes, there appeared to be only one team on the pitch, and it wasn’t the Wildcats. Brewster controlled the ball and was buzzing around the KUA net, and they scored five minutes in to go ahead 1 – 0. KUA woke up at that point and moved the ball up the field. Henry Trimpi made a perfect pass to Will Seward who put the ball just wide, and Amir Lesbek had a great shot minutes later that the keeper saved. The Wildcats tied it up at ten minutes into the game on a great play that saw passes from Andi Muhlauri to Will Seward to Henry Trimpi who blasted the ball into the net. Brewster responded and Cam de Tolla made an extraordinary point-blank save in the net. Evan Crandlemire cleared the ball away and minutes later he passed to Will who scored at the 18-minute mark to put KUA ahead for the first time. Michael Gratz and Charlie Johnson each created great scoring opportunities, Aiden Kelly and Will Stedina were stalwart on defense, and Will Seward put the Wildcats up by two on a long shot from well outside that went over the keeper’s head and into the net. Brewster counterattacked, Cam made another point-blank save, and the half ended at 3 – 1.
 
KUA started the second half determined to play with more composure and focus than they had previously shown early in second halves. They failed, and Brewster scored 50 seconds in to cut the Wildcats’ lead in half.  They continued to pressure the defense, and Cam de Tolla made another spectacular save with the ball rolling along the goal line. At this point, KUA took control again and Andi scored a great goal lobbing the ball up over the keeper’s head. Jon Bruner scored a crucial goal five minutes later, with the assist going to Andi, and KUA went ahead 5 – 2. Brewster scored again at the 20-minute mark, but the defense remained strong, with Ollie Cozzi making two great steals to stop Brewster attacks, and Michael Jung regularly clearing the ball with his huge kick. Henry Trimpi carried the ball halfway up the field before dishing it off to Will Seward who scored his third goal of the day, and Cam de Tolla made a great grab off a Brewster corner kick and then dropped the ball and dribbled it himself almost to mid-field. Jacob Hebbel was a powerful force in the backfield, and Jacob Rimberg had a particularly strong game pushing at the Brewster defense.  Man for man, the Brewster side was significantly bigger and stronger than the KUA group, and both teams went hard all game long, but the Wildcats prevailed in an impressive all-team effort to end the season with a decisive win. There were some great individual performances this afternoon, and the team was lucky to have Cam back in the net after he missed the Holderness games with an injury, but all 15 boys played and all contributed. They ended the season with a bang.
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