SCARBOROUGH — As so often is the case in soccer, especially when good teams square off, it comes down to which capitalizes on its few good chances.

Scarborough, the defending Class A champion, did just that Tuesday night, beating Deering 2-0 in a game between unbeaten teams.

Jake Kacer’s well-played header off a beautiful counter-attack cross from Noah Stracqualursi in the eighth minute staked Scarborough to an early lead, Garrett King knocked in a direct kick from 22 yards in the 28th minute, and the Red Storm’s defense and relentless work rate did the rest.

“Great cross by Noah and a real nice finish by Jake, and that was a nice way for us to get started,” Scarborough Coach Mark Diaz said.

Scarborough improved to 9-0-1. Deering is 8-1-1.

“We had a lot of chances in the first half (with) set pieces, through balls, and I thought it would be a totally different result,” Deering Coach Joel Costigan said. “To Scarborough’s credit, what they did was they capitalized on their set pieces.”

Deering goalie Anthony Russo made seven saves. On King’s goal, it appeared he had the low shot covered as it came around the edge of the defensive wall, but the ball got under him and into the goal.

Deering had eight corner kicks in the first half while playing with a strong wind at its back and was able to generate five of its six shots on goal against Scarborough keeper Sam Warren.

“We knew coming into the game they were going to be a strong team; they’ve got a lot of size,” Scarborough sweeper Ian Corey said. “We definitely worked on (defending corner kicks) in practice and focused on getting in front of a man.”

Corey in particular was able to head out several Deering bids, then Scarborough made a conscious effort to continue to track the ball and work it out from the Rams’ attacking third of the field.

Particularly as the game wore on, Scarborough, led by central defenders Corey and Nick Lorello, was able to shut down Deering’s repeated attempts to attack through the middle.

“We kept possession,” Deering center midfielder and captain Stephen Ochan said. “When we were in the attacking third, then they play kick and chase. They make you adjust and we didn’t. That’s how it is.”

Corey, Sam Ware and Warren are the only senior starters for Scarborough, which graduated 12 from its 2013 championship team.

“We just keep getting better,” Corey said. “It’s incredible. I can’t wait to see how far we’ve come at the end but there’s always room for improvement.”

Improving will be Deering’s focus over the final two weeks of the regular season.

Costigan pointed to fitness and sticking to the game plan as two areas where the Rams’ effort slipped as Tuesday’s game progressed.

“I think we got a little tired and started doing our own thing, and we got disconnected,” Costigan said. “But we know that the game plan was working and we just didn’t capitalize on our corners.”

Costigan added, “We’ll see them in the playoffs and I’m very confident we can get a different result. I thought we were the better team in the first half; soccer-wise, we just didn’t capitalize.”

Deering played the final minutes without Ochan, who came off after being noticeably bothered with a nagging upper leg injury.

“Just past injuries from past games,” Ochan said. “I’ll just have to recover.”

 

Copy the Story Link