Match Report: Staples vs. St. Joseph

The Wreckers honored their 8 seniors prior to today’s final regular season match, against St. Joseph.

It was probably their last game ever at Loeffler Field. Staples had already sewn up an FCIAC tournament berth. They knew they’d be traveling Thursday, to their quarterfinal match.

After tonight’s results, they learned that as the #7 seed, they’ll play at Greenwich [time to be determined]. It’s a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal, a wild match that ended in a bitter 2-1 Wrecker defeat..

The Cadets — with a new coach this year — were knocked out of playoff contention a while ago. The first half was lackluster. The blue-and-whites led 1-0 at halftime. Will Birch finished off a 1-2 passing sequence with Matt Engler by scoring, in the 26th minute.

Staples played better ball after the break. Early in the 2nd half, Timmy Liles drove the left corner. Patricio Perez Elorza’s shot was saved, but Anton Mahr finished the rebound.

St. Joe’s halved the deficit off a long throw, but in the 75th minute Perez Elorza and Mahr worked the ball to Azam Plummer. He weaved through a crowd, then struck home.

The FCIAC tournament begins Thursday. Depending on tonight’s Ludlowe match, the Wreckers can finish 6th or 7th. They have the same record as Danbury, but earn the tiebreaker edge by tying #1 seed Ridgefield — who the Hatters lost to.

“This is a wide-open tournament,” head coach Dan Woog says. “Any one of the 8 teams has a legit shot. We’ve had some great games against every team in FCIACs. We fought hard to get in the playoffs. Now it’s up to us to show the league what we can do.” FINAL SCORE: Staples 3, St. Joseph 1. FINAL SEASON RECORD: 8-4-4.

QUICK KICKS: All 8 seniors started: Birch, Engler, Jake Didner, Ryan Fincher, Steven Frost, Timmy Liles, Anton Mahr and Chris Martenson….

Teddy O’Kane returned to goal for Staples, late in the 1st half. He missed more than a month of the season, with a broken hand….

There’s an outside chance Stap have a home game in the state LL tournament….

The reserves shut out St. Joseph 9-0. Goals came from Wilson Daniels, Benny Feuer, Josh Buckman, Aiden Rose and Josh Zhang. Coach Nicky Hoberman cited “great play all around, and an exceptional job by Benny winning balls and creating offense, John Kuehndorf making overlapping runs, Daniel Leaf winning balls and getting forward, and a dominant performance by the entire team.” Hoberman’s side ends the year 10-3-2….

The FCIAC tournament schedule begins with Thursday’s quarterfinals, at the 4 higher-ranked schools. The semifinals are Monday, October 30 at Fairfield Ludlowe. The finals are set for Thursday, November 2 at Norwalk High.