By Rick Wilson
Here are some early observations on the high school soccer season:
Torrington’s start
Torrington’s quick 5-1 start which includes Wednesday night’s heart-stopping 3-2 loss to Naugatuck is no surprise with all but one starter returning from a year ago. But, the addition of Kevin Vaca has coach Mike Fritch smiling even more.
“He moved from Ecuador and technically he’s very sound and smart,” said Fritch. “ He’s strong on the ball for a small kid and he compliments the rest of the team very well.”
Unfortunately for the Raiders, Vaca got hurt in the first three minutes of the loss to Naugatuck (shoulder) and did not return forcing the Raiders to a fair share of shifting on the fly.
- There was much to catch your eye at the Torrington-Naugatuck game, but maybe the most impressive sight of the night was Naugatuck coach Art Nunes. Art has lost 35 pounds and looks like he could go out on the field and make a few runs.
Terryville/Thomaston girls
The Thomaston co-op agreement is paying dividends this season. After an 0-16 campaign a year ago, T-squared as the players like to call themselves, reeled off victories over Gilbert and Shepaug in its first two games before dropping the next three.
The opening victory over Gilbert was especially pleasing to coach Brian Rosano who took the team to Dairy Queen and conveniently forgot his wallet, forcing his assistants to cough up the cash.
“We came into this season knowing we would be able to compete better,” said Rosano. “We know we won’t be blown out as many times. We’re not in the class of Lewis Mills and Litchfield but want to compete with the other teams.”
Helping out at Kaynor
Girls playing on boys soccer teams isn’t as rare as it used to be but at Kaynor Tech both Megan Fried and Allison Butkus are making valuable contributions for the Panthers. Butkus scored for Kaynor when she notched a goal against Vinal Tech recently.
Mills, Chiefs flying high
Lewis Mills’ powerful programs aren’t missing a beat so far this season. The girls overpowered Gilbert, 8-1, Wednesday to up their record to 5-0 with Bailey Pace dominating the net with four goals. Meanwhile, the boys have yet to taste defeat either. A 1-1 tie with Litchfield left them with a 2-0-3 record.
What’s it all mean down the road? Well, the Nonnewaug boys (4-0-1) have yet to taste defeat and the Nonnewaug girls (6-0) also have an unblemished record. All of which sets up a couple of familiar battles for BL supremacy, the Chiefs and the Spartans. It seems like they have doing this for years.
