c Takes a pass from Sakk,then knocks in rebound
c It’s the first state titlefor Sayville boys soccer
CLASS A
BY JAMES [email protected]
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. —Sean Fullam has come up withone big play after another dur-ing Sayville’s postseason run,so it was only fitting for him toscore what may be the most im-portant goal in Sayville boyssoccer history.
Fullam got the pass he waslooking for from Vincent Sakk,slipped past a defender, shotthe ball off the far post andtapped in the rebound to putthe Golden Flashes ahead ofPittsford Mendon by one with7:38 remaining in the secondhalf of the Class A state final.
“I was fighting the sweeperall day,” Fullam said. “I knew ifI get a long ball over the top,I’m most likely going to beathim and then I just got to get itpast the keeper.”
Sayville (20-1-1) held on for a2-1 victory over Pittsford Men-don (17-3-2) to win its first statechampionship.
In six postseason games forthe Golden Flashes, Fullam hasscored five goals, three ofwhich were game-winners, andmade an assist on a game-win-ning goal.
“[A state championship] wasour goal at the beginning of theseason,” Fullam said. “Weknew if we played to our abili-ty, transformed our potential toproductivity, we would comeout on top.”
Pittsford Mendon nearly tiedthe game in the final 30 sec-onds but Craig DeCesare
cleared the ball out off the goalline and preserved the victoryfor the Golden Flashes.
“I was on the ground andCraig cleared it right off theline,” Sayville goalkeeper Dan
Scheck said. “It deflected offone of their players who wason the goal line and bouncedup and he just cleared it rightoff the line.”
The Temple-bound Scheck
made seven saves and al-lowed one goal, only his thirdgoal allowed all season. Pitts-ford Mendon’s top scorer, An-drew Smith, tapped in a re-bound to tie the score at 1,
after Scheck made a nice div-ing save with 13:43 remainingin the second half.
“I was so mad that it wentin,” Scheck said. “I should’vesaved it but I knew I wasn’t let-ting up another goal.”
With the score tied, Say-ville’s defense was called uponto do what it did all season long— not allow any chances. Dako-ta Edwards, a member of theU.S. Academy select under-17/18 team, and Chris Siracusamade several outstanding stopsfor the Golden Flashes.
“He’s just incredible,” Say-ville coach Val Winter said ofEdwards. “We always give himthe job of marking the toughestforward and he’s an incredibleplayer, so highly skilled, so in-telligent on the field, nothingbothers him.”
Five minutes into the secondhalf, Siracusa was one-on-onewith Smith, who was chargingtoward the goal. Siracusaknocked the ball away fromSmith and neutralized a greatscoring opportunity for Pitts-ford Mendon.
“We don’t give enough creditto Chris Siracusa,” Winter said.“He usually never gets beaten,even if he gets beaten to theball, he’s smart enough not toallow the player to get by him.”
Pittsford Mendon controlledthe first 25 minutes of play buta fearless sequence by Ed-wards, in which he took onthree players and got past themall, seemed to shift the momen-tum toward the Golden Flashesin the first half.
“I just think about going onthe field and playing the best Ican and just playing my de-fense, my role of the game,” Ed-wards said.
Sayville got on the boardwith 22 seconds remaining inthe first half on an own goal byPittsford Mendon, last touchedby Fullam.
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Fullamgoalwinschampionship
Sayville’s Sean Fullam (center) is congratulated by teammates after scoring the winning goal. SOURCE: LOCAL CREDIT: CMP BYLINE: Christopher Pasatieri November 21, 2010; Middletown, NY,USA; Sayville senior Sean Fullam (22) scores what was ruled a "Own Goal" in the first half of theBoys Soccer Class A State Final game against Pittsford Mendon at Faller Field on the campus ofMiddletown High School. Sayville defeated Pittsford Mendon 2-1. Photo By: Christopher Pasatieri(Photo by - Christopher Pasatieri)
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