Top 5 Separated by 3 Points in 7-on-7 Soccer League
The perennially strong Maidstone Market men’s soccer team, which has won back-to-back titles in the 7-on-7 league, whose games are played at East Hampton’s Herrick Park, trailed Hampton F.C.-Bill Miller, Bateman Painting, and F.C. Tuxpan in the standings this week, though that’s not unusual: Whether it winds up the regular season in first or fourth place, the Market always shows up in force for the playoffs.
In a game played on Oct. 18, the Market and Bill Miller played to a 2-2 tie, with Maidstone’s goalie, Ivan Mesa, salvaging the tie with a penalty kick in the final minutes.
Also that night, Tortorella and Tuxpan played to a scoreless tie, and Bateman shut out winless Sag Harbor United 3-0 thanks to goals by Romulo Tubatan, Jonathan Lizano, and Orlando Bautista, the latter on a penalty kick awarded after Juan Zuluaga, who had broken away, was taken down in the penalty box.
The standings going into last night’s games showed Bill Miller leading, with a record of 2-0-2 (8 points), followed by Bateman, at 2-1-1 (7), Tuxpan, at 1-0-3 (6), Maidstone, at 1-1-2 (5), Tortorella, at 1-1-2 (5), and Sag Harbor United, at 0-4-0.
Bateman, the playoff runner-up to Maidstone last fall and in the spring-summer season as well, defeated the Market 2-0 on Oct. 4. Leslie Czeladko, who oversees the league, said that Jonathan Lizano scored both goals, and had come very close to scoring two others. Cristian Rios made seven saves for Bateman, facing down a lineup that included Jefferson Ramirez, Ernesto Valverde, Xavi Piedramartel, and Luis Barrera. Mesa made three saves for Maidstone.
“A great win for Bateman Painting,” Czeladko said.
The Market, as aforesaid, defeated Bateman Painting in the spring’s championship game, by a score of 2-1. In that final, Bateman got on the scoreboard first, thanks to a goal by Zuluaga that beat Mesa to the far post. Maidstone came on strong in the second half, however, tying the score on a header by Julian Barahona in the 50th minute and clinching the trophy with a goal by Ramirez a minute later.
Czeladko’s team, Tortorella Pools, and Hampton F.C.-Bill Miller played to a 1-1 tie on Oct. 4.
Tortorella scored first, early in the second half, thanks to a goal by David Rodriguez, the league’s scoring leader, who’d received a pass from Rodolfo Marin and put the ball past Quique Araya, Bill Miller’s goalie.
Bill Miller replied with a goal of its own a minute later. “The ball was bouncing in front of Tortorella’s goal with no one able to clear it,” Czeladko said, adding that Oscar Reinoso, standing near the goal line, put it in, beating Alejandro Bolanos, Tortorella’s goalie.
“After those goals, both sides continued to attack, but there was to be no more scoring.”
Araya said Monday that the over-30 men’s team, Hampton United, on which a number of 7-on-7 leaguers play, did not play at Stony Brook Sunday “because of the storm.”
The team, which leads the Suffolk Men’s Soccer League’s first division, at 4-0-1, is to play a home game at Hampton Bays High School versus Manorville S.C., which is 2-3-0, this Sunday, at 2:45 p.m.
Last night, at Herrick, Sag Harbor United and Bill Miller were to have led it off, followed by Maidstone Market-Tortorella Pools and Bateman Painting-Tuxpan.