The Wilton High boys soccer team came away with a convincing 3-0 win over St. Joseph on Saturday afternoon at Kristine Lilly Field, but the early season victory came at a cost.
Three Wilton players were given yellow cards in the game (just the third of the regular season) — a worry because teams that exceed a certain number of yellow cards during the regular season are dis-qualified from post-season state tournament play.
“Getting the win was great, having three yellow cards issued with us holding the lead is not," said Wilton head coach Jim Lewicki, whose team improved to 2-1. "I’ve been coaching for 24 years and never had a team issued three cards in a game. Being in the position of having cards issued this early in the season will weigh on the players and us coaches.”
The game got off to a quick start. The Cadets took the opening kick-off right down the field and fired a shot at the Wilton goal in the first 20 seconds.
But the tide swiftly changed as the Warrior defense held its ground and the offense went to work. St. Joseph wouldn’t cross the Wilton 18-yard line again until the 31st minute.
With the Warriors in control of the play, senior co-captain Jack Brandt set up Harry Allers with a perfect pass as the latter was attacking the net. Allers was able to turn the corner and get by his defender and fire a quick shot into the corner of the net to beat the charging Cadets goalie and give Wilton a 1-0 lead.
In the 20th minute, Allers returned the favor by setting up Brandt for a score. The St. Joseph back line attempted to clear the ball — but through the middle of the field — and Allers was there to step in front of it and feed Brandt, who blasted a shot into the back of the net.
“We came out a little fired up because we didn’t want to lose two games in a row early in the season," said Allers, referring to Wilton's 3-2 loss at Greenwich on Thursday. “We moved the ball a lot better today and we need to continue to attack the net and score."
Brandt followed with his second goal of the game in the 56th minute to end the scoring. Brandt made a textbook slide tackle to take the ball away from a Cadet player, then quickly got back on his feet and found himself one-on-one with the St. Joseph goalie. Brandt slotted his shot just inside the far post to put Wilton ahead, 3-0.
“The team played a consistent game today and showed good ball movement," said Lewicki. "But we need to come out and play a full 80 minutes, which we haven’t done yet this year.
"We’re heading to Fairfield next week for two games — against unbeaten Fairfield Warde (4-0) and Fairfield Ludlowe (3-0-1) and we need to be ready to play," added Lewicki. "Warde has outscored their opponents, 16-3, already this season."
Notes: Mitchell Bascom got the start in goal for the Warriors and did not have a save in the first half. Grey Livingstone was in net for the second half and recorded one save.
St. Joseph was given one yellow card during the game.