Farmingdale pleased by tie with powerful Chaminade
Farmingdale's Victor Montano, left, tries to settle a ball and get past Chaminade's John O'Hanlon in the second half of a non-league game at Farmingdale High School. (Sept. 15, 2010) Credit: James Escher
The final score showed there was no winner, but the players' reactions indicated otherwise. Chaminade's players trudged off the field with long faces and looks of dejection, while Farmingdale's clapped and smiled Monday after a scoreless tie at Farmingdale in non-league boys soccer.
Chaminade (1-0-1), ranked seventh nationally in the Fab 50 ESPN rankings, opened the season with a 1-0 win over No. 10 St. Benedict's Prep on Saturday.
"It's a positive for us because we were the underdogs," Farmingdale midfielder Austin Wertheimer said. "We wanted to prove ourselves. We proved we should contend for the Nassau county championship."
Farmingdale (0-0-1) also had to overcome playing the final 15:35 a man down. Players began pushing and shoving after the Dalers committed a foul, and Farmingdale's Chris Giordano and Nick Licata along with Chaminade's Nick Codispoti were given red cards, resulting in ejections.
The Dalers' players will be suspended one game, according to league rules. Codispoti doesn't have to miss a game, according to CHSAA rules, but Chaminade coach Mike Gallagher said he will miss the next game because of a team rule.
"It was an unfortunate incident," Farmingdale coach Kevin Shanley said. "There were no yellow cards all game. It was physical and emotions were running high."
Although the Dalers were pleased to exit with a tie, Shanley said the team was more satisfied because of the way they had to finish the game.
"We were pleased because we were a man down," he said. "We came to win. We had to play smart. We were pleased it didn't get away from us. We showed a lot of character the last 15 minutes to play down a man against a quality opponent."
Farmingdale also discovered it has a good goalkeeper. Junior Harry Rosen made nine saves in his first start. He doesn't play club soccer and just began playing the sport last season on the junior varsity. "He played an excellent game," Wertheimer said. "He came up huge."
Rosen's biggest save came on a blast off the foot of Giovanni LoMonaco from 10 yards with 3:02 left in the first half.
Gallagher said his team is still a work in progress.
"We kind of still look like we're in the preseason," Gallagher said. "I don't think we ever got it going. We're still struggling to find the right combination of players. It has to be better to be considered a top team."
