Indians Begin with a Trophy

MAHOPAC – The Mahopac High boys soccer team picked up four wins last week to open the 2009 season, but only three of them will count on the Indians’ record.

Mahopac’s first game against North Salem was in the Yorktown Tournament, and it ended in a 2-2 tie. But because someone needed to advance to the championship round, the game was decided in penalty kicks, which Mahopac won, 5-3. But on Mahopac’s official record, the game will still count as a tie.

In that game, the ‘Pac got goals from Rob Schiera and Dave Sparozic, with an assist going to Matt Ciruzzi.

Adam Basuljevic had 11 saves for Mahopac, and Jeff Semmens had 10 for North Salem (0-2-1).

Mahopac went on to win the tournament after beating Somers, 1-0, in Saturday’s championship game.

Mahopac got the game-winner from Greg Shannon, who scored in the first half off a feed from Luke Fariselli.

Basuljevic had five saves for Mahopac, and Rob Carreirra stopped three shots for the Tuskers (1-1).

“We played a better game against Somers – a skilled team,” Mahopac coach Chris Emery said. “We controlled the ball well. It was nice for our seniors to win the tournament after placing second the last three years in a row.”

Mahopac played North Salem again Monday, and walked off with a 2-1 win in overtime.

Arthur Strzepka came up with the game-winning goal off a pass from Shannon with 23 seconds left in the first of two mandatory overtime periods.

Brian Span put North Salem up 1-0 on a penalty kick at the 18:50 mark of the first half, and Mahopac tied it up at 1-1 on a goal by Jesse Chan, with the assist again going to Shannon. The goal came at the 25:00 mark of the first half.

Basuljevic had six saves, and Semmens stopped nine shots on goal for the Tigers.

“I think we played better than we did the first time we played them,” Emery said. “We controlled the ball better, were a little more aggressive, and in overtime we controlled the game. We had a lot more opportunities and kept the pressure on them. Sparozic played a great game at sweeper, Shannon set up both goals and Adam had some nice saves for us. Arthur also worked hard and got his first varsity goal.”

Mahopac also picked up a 2-1 win over Kennedy Catholic last Friday at Mahopac.

Schiera and Anthony Lopez each scored for the Indians. Mike Ennis had a goal for the Gaels.

Basuljevic stopped three shots for Mahopac, while Austin Hall had six saves for Kennedy (1-0-1).

Mahopac hosts Arlington today (Thursday) at 4:30pm, and the Indians host Putnam Valley Monday at 4:30pm at the Lakeview Elementary School.