West Hartford’s Hall High School boys soccer team defeated Trumbull, 2-1, in a tournament at FSA on Saturday. 

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

The Hall boys soccer team passed an early season test Saturday with a 2-1 win over Trumbull at the CT High School Soccer Challenge played in Farmington.

Grady Doyle had a hand – or foot – in both goals, picking up the assist on the first and scoring the game winner in the second half. The Challenge brings together some of the state’s top boys soccer clubs, including many state champs and finalists from the year before. While early in the season for most, it gives teams a chance to measure themselves against sides they normally would not face until the state tournament.

The Titans are playing with many new starters this season, and others being moved to new positions. “These guys need to get used to playing with each other and know how each other move,” said long-time Hall head coach Zeke Seguro.

The Titans came out with energy and nearly got on the scoreboard just seven minutes in when Aiden Winiarski slashed through the Trumbull defense and nearly nodded in a cross that went just wide. Moments later, Diego Lemes fired off a hard shot that was bobbled by the Trumbull goalie, who managed to gather the loose ball just in front of an oncoming Hall attacker.

Hall looked to have taken the lead off a free kick that was headed in, but the play was ruled offsides. Lincoln Bush also had a scoring chance that went just wide before the Titans finally put one in that counted. It started with a great corner kick from Doyle who sent the ball right into the middle of the goal mouth, about 9 yards out. Zach Debin was perfectly placed near the back spot and went high to head the ball in for the 1-0 lead.

“I thought we played well in the first 20 minutes,” Seguro said. “But then it kind of just stopped.”

The Eagles took full advantage of the stoppage and began working the ball in transition against the Hall defense. Israel Costa sent a ball that beat the defense and let teammate Lucas Moreira run onto it. He hit a low ball to the far corner that beat goalie Rodrigo Ballesteros who was left alone to defend the play.

With about three minutes to play in the opening half, Doyle scored the prettiest goal of the game. Winiarski sent a through ball deep in the box to the right side and Doyle blasted a high shot that beat goalie Drew Bedocs inside the near post and high to make it 2-1.

“Grady moved into that spot in the lineup due to an injury and he has delivered some beautiful passes too,” Seguro said.

In the second half, on a very hot day, each team lost a little of the crispness of passes that they had displayed in the opening 40 minutes. Connecting passes were fewer and each team started trying to lay long balls and have someone run onto it in a 1-v-1. Each team did have some good chances to score, but no one could find the back of the net. Bendocs had two very good saves, one off a corner, and saw his defense block a point-blank chance by Hall as well.

Hall’s Ben Goldstein – a senior captain – played a solid game on defense, and Marco Leonidas stayed busy throughout at both ends of the field from his midfield spot. Christian Almeida and Sean Birmingham turned in strong minutes off the bench as Hall frequently rotated players.

For Hall, now 1-0-1 on the season, the early games are going to be about establishing cohesiveness while facing some very strong opponents. “Half of this lineup had no varsity experience coming into the season,” said Seguro. “They are showing flashes, but just haven’t put together the full 80 minutes yet.”

Game notes:

• Hall’s Doyle and Trumbull’s Tom DiCorpo were selected as the Players of the Game for their respective teams.
• Hall is back in action Monday when they travel to defending Class LL champion Farmington. Then on Friday they will be at Glastonbury.
• None of the three strikers starting for Hall played that position last year. Seguro has moved Lemes to midfield for now, but expects to eventually move the very talented player back up front.
• Also missing from the lineup for Hall is junior captain Freddie Wright who is out with an injury.
• Conard was slated to take on Stamford at 4 p.m. in the Challenge, but the game was canceled due to the threatening weather.

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