Marauders set for SOSSA
The host A.N. Myer Marauders tuned up for the SOSSA boys soccer AAA playoffs with a convincing 9-0 win over the visiting Greater Fort Erie Secondary School Gryphons Friday.
The Marauders captured the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Zone 3 title with the victory and now advance to Southern Ontario Secondary School Association Thursday.
The Marauders will take on the Eden Flyers at 9 a.m. while Westdale from Waterdown will play the winner of Saint Michael versus Blessed Trinity, who play Monday. The winners meet at 2 p.m. in the final.
The Marauders head into SOSSA with a perfect 8-0 mark.
“You deal with the cards you are dealt,” Myer coach J.P. Verrucci said. “We have a really good group of Grade 12s, and at the same time, we try to put it together for SOSSA always.
“We’re looking forward to next week.”
The Marauders scored three goals in a matter of minutes from the opening kick off en route to the lopsided victory.
Verrucci said the club did their best to continue to play the proper way, despite the score.
“We do our best to play two-three touch, the way soccer is meant to be played,” he said. “Fight for each other always, stay positive on the field and pick each other up and make sure we have a positive attitude going forward.”
Verrucci said with SOSSA coming up, the last thing he wanted was for the team to lapse into lazy habits.
“We’ve always addressed we want to create good habits because we know next week isn’t going to be like this. Space is going to be tighter, guys are going to be on you right away and you’re going to have to move the ball fast so we want make sure we always have good habits,” he said. “We’re focused on the process and once you focus on the process, hopefully the results come.”
Verrucci emptied his bench in an effort to spread the playing time around.
“We want everyone to play. We know next week is hopefully going to be a long day which means there’s going to be a lot of soccer and a lot of tired teenagers,” Verrussi said. “We make sure we stick to fundamentals and we if have plays put together, we’re working at them at 100 per cent because next week we want to continue to make this machine work.”
Ryder Mottola, who paced the Marauders with three goals, was thrilled to chip in offensively.
“Feels pretty good. It was nice to put them in,” the 16-year-old, Grade 11 student said. “It’s not an easy game to play. We just keep what we’re doing, playing two-three touch and keep your composure.”
Mottola is eager to see how the team fares at SOSSA.
“We’re really looking forward to it. It should be good. We definitely wanted to go. We were taking it one week at a time.”
Fort Erie coach Mike Smith said the Gryphons are in a rebuilding process, often playing with juniors making up 50 per cent of the lineup.
“This year we got our first win since COVID. We finished with a win and a couple of ties,” Smith said. “We’re definitely on the upswing. We have a lot of good building blocks in place, a good, young team that’s going to grow and hopefully keep the program growing and hopefully good things to come.
“We had success this year and improved.”
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