Chaminade Soccer Douses Firebirds for First 2011 Win

The Chaminade boys varsity soccer team opened their 2011 league schedule Tuesday with a decidedly lopsided 5-0 shutout win over sister school Kellenberg, their first victory of the season.

TO open the season the Flyers had gone up against the No. 2 ranked school in the country, St. Benedict’s in New Jersey only to fall 3-1, and tied Beacon at one goal apiece the previous Friday.

“We kind of put a bug under them because the first two matches we didn’t get a victory,” Flyers coach Mike Gallagher said.

The Flyers opened the scoring 13 minutes into the first half after an interception drive down the sideline led to an unassisted net off the lefthand side from forward George Roumeliotis.

Forward Vincent Valenza would follow it up eight minutes later with a poached goal after a misread bounce, the first of a hat trick in the match. The Chaminade senior, who suffered injury last year, would also score with 11 minutes left in the first half in a poach off the corner and a header with 16 minutes left in the second with an assist from midfielder Filipe Lobatos.

“We’re expecting him to lead the forwards,” Gallagher said of Valenza, one of eight seniors returning to the team this year after the program graduated 19 of its players.

“They’re all rebuilding years,” Gallagher said. “We’re getting good help from the rest of the senior class and the junior class is stepping up pretty good. We’re so young it’s going to take a long time.”

In addition to the defensive line of Kevin Mercadante and John Platt, sophomore Joseph Swenson joins the team at midfield.

Fellow seniors Chris Kanaval and Terence McGovern will share captaining duties for the Flyers this year.

Midfielder Hunter Frey would net Chaminade’s other goal of the match, coming off of a cross up on Kellenberg 14 minutes into the second half that was assisted by defenseman John Platt.

Chaminade outshot the Firebirds 17-8 while Matthew Sinatro made 6 saves for the Flyers.

“We’re relying on him,” Gallagher said of the returning goalkeeper who will now see a majority of the minutes after playing on the club as a junior last year. “The second half of the St. Benedict’s game could have been 10-nil and he was pulling balls out of the back of the net.”