West Hartford’s Hall High School faced Fairfield Prep Saturday in the third annual CT High School Soccer Challenge.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

There was just one place to be Saturday if you are a high school soccer fan.

The third annual CT High School Soccer Challenge at FSA in Farmington featured 24 teams from six conferences each playing a single game. The event featured most of the state’s best boys soccer teams and is second only to the state tournament for best matchups.

This is the third season that Hall has played in what started as a CCC-FCIAC matchup, twice facing teams that they would see in the state tournament later in the season. On Saturday Hall fell behind early, managed a tie and then allowed a goal with under two minutes to go to give Fairfield Prep of the Southern CT Conference the 2-1 win.

The Titans had a chance to get on the board first, but a ball that got past goalie Evan Amborsio was calmly cleared off the line by Sebbie Cruz. They had a second chance later in the half when Diego Lemes saw his shot go just wide of the right post.

The Jesuits controlled the middle portion of the opening half and saw a chance sail over the crossbar from a well-placed cross into the center of the box. Each team used the width of the field to try and build up their attacks.

Hall pushed things to the left side and tried to take advantage of the speed of Lemes. Fairfield Prep also used the left side to go over the top on the Hall defense, but neither team managed to find the back of the net. That all changed with under two minutes to go with an innocent-looking play. Joao Courtinho – with his back to the Hall goal – controlled a long ball with his chest. He managed to get a touch on the ball and turn at goal before letting go of a 40-yard dipping shot that was perfectly placed and caught goalie Quinn Freeman off his line. The ball dipped perfectly over Freeman’s outstretched hand and dropped into the net for the 1-0 lead.

“We gave him time and he made the touch and got it in,” said Hall coach Zeke Seguro.

Both teams worked hard all game in a relentless sun with no shade on a turf field. Several players had to leave the game for brief periods to recover from cramping. Early in the second half Hall nearly converted when a free kick into the box led to a one timer that Ambrosio managed to control. The Titans dominated long stretches of the second half, adding more attacking through the middle of the field. Where they were not very sharp was on set pieces and corner kicks, failing to get any good scoring chances from multiple opportunities.

Prep almost doubled their lead on a counterattack, but Freeman made a spectacular save on a shot by Francis Zaino. From the right side of the goal, Zaino ticketed a shot to the far side, upper corner, but Freeman had the angle, went full extension, and used his top hand to push the ball wide of the goal.

Moments later it was Hall getting on the board, converting off a long ball. John Hunt – who was one of the hardest working Titan players on the field – controlled the ball and pushed a pass back to Freddy Wright who one-timed it with a slight curl from about 30 yards out to beat Ambrosio and tie the game at 1.

Both teams continued to look for ways to score the go ahead goal without success until late in the game.

With just under two minutes to play, Hall failed to clear the ball from its own zone, leading to a free kick for Prep about 25 yards out and to the left side of the goal. The ball was swung to the back post and Jack Marcus made the run from his defensive position to head it down into the corner of the net for the 2-1 lead.

“It’s the little things that matter so much,” Seguro said of the game and the goal. “He lost his mark and you just can’t allow a guy to escape you.”

Hall was once again playing without senior captain Sullivan Clancy who was injured when he was kicked in the face in the Glastonbury game. Seguro is hoping to get him back on the field in the coming week. The Titan defense was solid in the middle thanks in large part to the efforts of Ben Goldstein who was tough all game anchoring the back line.

Hall drops to 3-2 on the season with the loss, which also snapped a two-game win streak.

“I liked the way we played especially in the second half. That (Prep) isa very good team,” Seguro said. “I’m happy where we are because this is the kind of team you play in the tournament and we learned today that we can play with them.”

The Titans host Middletown at home on Tuesday before traveling to play RHAM on Friday next week. Both of those teams were also taking part in the CT High School Soccer Challenge this weekend.

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