Sports

Double Overtime Avon-Suffield Battle Results in 1-1 Draw

Both teams prepare for final two games before state tournament.

When Avon and Suffield meet on the soccer field, it’s always a battle.

That was true Tuesday on many levels as the two girls varsity teams went into double overtime for their second faceoff this season, ending in a 1-1 draw.

“It was a typical Suffield-Avon match-up,” Avon head coach Jim Murray said after the afternoon game at Fisher Meadows. “It’s a rivalry that’s been going on a long time.”

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This is the ninth time Avon and Suffield have tied each other in their overall career history. Avon (11-1-2) has beat Suffield (11-2-1) 24 times, just one more than the 23 wins Suffield has over Avon, Murray said. Avon shut out Suffield 2-0 mid-September under the lights in Suffield – Avon’s second game of the season and Suffield’s first.

“That’s typical and I love playing games like this,” Murray said. “It’s a little frantic at points, but that’s the way it is at this point in the season. Everybody’s getting ready for your tournament and you want to win. I thought a couple opportunities, if we finished them, we’d be out on top again, but that’s the key. You have to finish your opportunities.”

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Murray thought his team played with more control than the last game against Suffield, which he described as fast-paced and “frantic” on both ends because of early season nerves.

“Defensively, we avoided making mistakes,” Murray said. “They had an opportunity late in the game when [the ball] was bouncing around in the goal area and it deflected off one of our players. It could have gone in. In the games like these, it’s the teams that capitalize on their opportunities.”

Just over 14 minutes into Tuesday’s game, Avon sophomore Caroline Smith got the ball deep and passed the ball to senior co-captain Jenna Donahue, who fed it to senior Erica Primovic near Suffield’s penalty line. Primovic turned and knocked it in. The early 1-0 lead put Avon in the position to add another win to its then 24-23-8 record against rival Suffield if the girls could protect their goal for the remainder of regulation play.

However, while Avon was first to score, they were not the last. In the 23rd minute of the first half, Suffield senior Brianna Bishop sent the ball to the far right corner of Avon’s box and fellow senior Peri Stevens connected for the finish, tying the game.

Suffield coach David Sullivan said that his team had been working on that play all week – having the forwards run toward the ball on crosses to the far corner.

“Sometimes we finish, sometimes we don’t. That’s actually how it was supposed to be done. It was a great goal.” Sullivan said. “Their goal was obviously just all Erica. Erica works hard and the difference is she’s a senior that has that drive when she has the ball. My two forwards are a freshman and a sophomore. You can just see the difference.”

Suffield has a young team. Eight of the starters are freshmen and sophomores and only two are seniors. Yet Suffield played tough and both teams had many scoring opportunities in regulation and overtime.

Avon almost scored again with five minutes left in the first half off of a Primovic header, but Suffield keeper Gabby Arruda, a junior, caught the ball just ahead of the goal line.

In a Suffield-Avon game emotions can run high.  With just minutes left in the second overtime period, Primovic advanced in the offensive third of the field, headed toward goal. She became tangled with Suffield’s sophomore defender Jillian Consolini. As the girls grappled to get back on their feet they pushed each other. When Consolini got out of the bind, she kicked Primovic who was on the ground.

“It’s two very competitive girls going at it. It just happens and it’s unfortunate,” Murray said. “We try to tell our players not to get into those things, but in the emotion of the last three minutes of a game in overtime, sometimes emotions get the better of them.”

As a result, the referees gave Consolini a red card, leaving Suffield short one player for the last minutes of the game. Primovic was issued a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct. The two game officials said afterward that if the kick had not happened, Consolini most likely still would have gotten a yellow card.

“No matter what had happened, you never kick a girl, so she deservingly got the red,” said Sullivan, who was under the impression that Primovic initiated the scuffle. “We’ll have to play without her, who is probably our best player.”

Murray said both cards were justified.

“I said to my player, Erica, I’d rather have her on the field than have her sit the last three minutes of the game,” Murray said. “She’s a scorer and we need her in the goal area to score.”

If a player accumulates three yellow cards during regular season play, according to CIAC regulations, she has to sit out the next game, but that is not the case for Primovic, who will be playing with her team in an away game against Enfield Thursday. Enfield was able to score against Avon when they played at Fisher Meadows in late September, but Avon won 3-1.

Because of the red card, Consolini cannot play in Suffield’s big away game against Granby Friday. Granby, which is the only team that has defeated Avon this season, beat Suffield 2-1 when they played in early October. Suffield’s last game before the state tournament will be against Enfield.

“Now we have some games under our belt,” Sullivan said. “These games, you don’t have to prepare the girls because we know what they do and it’s whoever puts in the best effort. Today was probably deserving a tie.”

Avon’s final game before the state tournament is against Ellington Tuesday, the only other team that Avon has tied this season, also 1-1.


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