Sports

Suffield Boys Lose To Granby, Bounce Back Against Windsor Locks, Bring Soccer Record to 8-1

The Bears were the first team to score against the Wildcats all season in 1-0 victory Wednesday. Suffield bounced back with a 7-0 win against Windsor Locks Friday.

With the amount of pressure the Suffield High boys soccer team plied to Granby Memorial High on Wednesday afternoon, it was only a matter of time before it finally scored the equalizer to make up for the 1-0 hole in which it found itself.

Granby essentially had packed tight its defensive third, sustaining wave after wave of Suffield attacks after the Bears took an early lead on sophomore forward Brent Goldman’s goal in the fifth minute of play.

Remarkably, it was the first goal that Suffield had conceded in eight games this year.

Anyway, the Wildcats’ golden opportunity came in the 72nd minute, when senior Alex Biederman perfectly timed his jump in the box to meet a cross with a header that was certain to reach its target in the back of the Bears’ net.

But Granby goalkeeper David Gottschalk made the save of the season, making a leaping dive to his left-hand side to snare the would-be equalizer that both preserved the clean sheet and the victory for the Bears.

“I just saw the cross coming and saw him hit the header and I just tried to get behind the ball,” Gottschalk said. “I lost the ball for a little and it dropped down, but I made the play. At that point we knew we had a great chance to win the game so I felt ready to win.”

It’s been a bit of a strange week for Granby, which lost to a previously winless Bolton High squad on Monday, only to come back and defeat previously undefeated Suffield (7-1) on Wednesday.

“[The victory] was very important, especially with the last game against Bolton,” Gottschalk said. “We play up to the teams - if we have a big game coming up we have a big game.”

Suffield head coach Mark Biegel, for his part, was far from displeased with his team’s performance, which included eight shots on goal and four corner kicks.

“We worked hard, we played great we created really good opportunities,” Biegel said. “That’s the game of soccer. Sometimes one breakdown which is what we had early in the game in terms of a defensive mental lapse they got it done and that’s the end of the story. We’ve been on both sides of the fence. Unfortunately this is the second time we’ve been on this side of the fence with Granby. They knocked us out of the tournament last year they know they can do it and that’s one of the great parts of this game is you can bounce back against a team like Bolton and come away with some confidence. Granby never quits. One thing you can always count on is they give 100 percent all the time.”

Granby head coach David Emery, having seen his team fall to Bolton in similar fashion earlier in the week, empathized with Biegel.

“It can be intensely, intensely frustrating,” Emery said. “If you talk to them right now they would back that up. If you talked to me on Monday, I could back that up. It’s so low scoring that any one play could change the outcome of the game.”

The game revealed the Bears’ paradox.

“They’ve been particularly tough when the competition has been tough,” said Emery, citing his team’s victory over Somers and draw against Avon earlier in the season. “They know they have to bring it and they also are aware that Suffield is the real deal in terms of being a threat to win a championship.”

Granby’s back line, including Mike Noyes, captain Dan Clark, Parker Rennels and Trevor Bendig, all did their part to keep Suffield off their side of the ledger.

The Bears nearly doubled their advantage in the 78th minute when Peter Brodeur sent midfielder Carlin Champion through with only Suffield keeper Eric Johnson to beat.

But Johnson (four saves) made a stellar save to keep his side to within a goal.

Suffield, however, could not find the equalizer and gave Granby (4-3-1) the victory.

Suffield bounced back from the loss with a 7-0 thrashing of Windsor Locks Friday, bringing its record to 8-1. The Wildcats play next in Stafford on Tuesday at 3:45 p.m.


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