by Erin Hogan
The last game of the last night of the New Lebanon Tournament pitted the New Lebanon boys varsity soccer team against Lee, MA, for first place. Lee started off with the ball quickly and set the pace for the rest of the game. It was clear from the beginning that this was going to be a fast paced, no-nonsense game. New Lebanon took no time showing Lee that they had the moves to win the game and that that was what they intended to do.
Todd Ferguson got the first shot of the night against Lee, and the shot was saved. It was no easy feat getting through the tight Lee defense. At the other end of the field, Lee would try to get breakaways but the intense New Lebanon defense would either have Ben Burgess reject the ball or Lee would get caught offsides by this not only physically fit but mentally fit soccer team. New Lebanon’s defense was working hard all throughout this cold battle under the lights, and Ben Burgess and Gary Bingham, along with goalie Dan Benson, all were working hard to win. On the offensive end, the Tigers were struggling to get through the quick, well spread defense of Lee. A break in the Lee defense was found with 21 minutes left in the first half. Todd Ferguson passed the ball to Mike Gavrity who fired a shot and scored, giving New Lebanon the lead.
Lee wouldn’t have any of that and stormed back up the field taking a shot of their own that went wide. All members of the New Lebanon team were rejuvenated from the 1-0 lead and were all contributing by passing well. Lee was getting scared and started to get sloppy. New Lebanon was awarded a kick that was saved by the Lee goalie and punted out to the Tigers’ defense. Immediately, Burgess rejected the ball, not letting Lee get away with anything. With 10 minutes left in the first half New Lebanon still led 1-0. Gavrity had a great cross that no one could finish, and Lee got possession of the ball. There was a shot taken, and Benson went to save it, bobbled it, and Lee scored. New Lebanon didn’t give up and right away headed back towards the Lee goal to try and break the tie. The tie would stand as the buzzer sounded for the end of the first half.
The second half started with the same intensity as the first. The ball traveled from end to end. Ferguson took a shot, but it was wide. When Lee would try and shoot, Gary Bingham would get the ball back up and out. Gavrity was showing a lot of tenacity taking control of the midfield and trying to help his teammates on offense. There were 19 minutes left in the second half when Lee scored, taking the lead. New Lebanon was now starting to get frantic. The game was getting physical with both teams fighting for the top spot. But Gavrity, at the top of the box, took a shot which slipped in over the Lee goalie, tying the game at 2-2.
With the goal New Lebanon again got new energy and put their game faces on. The game got more and more intense as time wound down and the score stayed the same. Lee had some close shots, but with Benson, Chris Evans, Burgess and Bingham, nothing was allowed into the New Lebanon goal for the rest of the half. New Lebanon wasn’t able to score either and with the second half over and the score still 2-2 this nail-biter went into overtime.
The New Lebanon defense was tighter than ever, and Burgess was working overtime getting the ball out of Lee’s shooting range. New Lebanon was still doing a fabulous job catching Lee offsides. Gavrity was able to get a shot off, but it was high over Lee’s net. With 24 seconds left in the first overtime, Lee got a kick outside the box which Benson saved, sending the crowd into a crazy cheer.
The game headed into a second overtime, and although it was freezing, the New Lebanon fans still stood recklessly cheering for their boys to get this win. Just like at the beginning of the game Lee started with the ball at a fast pace. Lee had quite a few shots that were wide and in response the Tigers shot high. With three minutes left in this half Lee was awarded a kick but made nothing of it. Ferguson took a shot that looked like the winner, but the Lee goalie dashed all hopes and saved the ball. The second overtime ended like the first and this meant one thing – a shootout.
Gavrity took the goal for New Lebanon. Shooting for New Lebanon was Gavrity, Evans, Burgess, Thomas Laier and Kyle McHugh. Coach Allard made a good choice with this crew because not one gentleman missed his shot. Unfortunately neither did any of the Lee shooters. All five rounds were taken so this meant both teams had to take shots until someone scored to break the tie. The first goal would win. Although Gavrity didn’t save a goal, he was intimidating enough to have Lee shoot wide on their sixth penalty shot. Ben Cassavaugh got to be the hero of the game when he scored New Lebanon’s sixth shot, giving the Tigers the win over Lee. The intense battle for first place was won and New Lebanon took the field celebrating their extremely hard fought win.
In an exclusive, breathless interview after the game Coach Allard said, “This was a well played game. Lee was an excellent team and should be proud of themselves. We fought hard until the end, and it was teamwork that got us through. We’ve won this tournament two years running, and I’m very, very proud of these guys!”
