‘Pac Rolls to 4-1 Win over PV

MAHOPAC – The Mahopac High boys soccer team had a strong game Monday, beating Putnam Valley, 4-1, in a non-league game played at the Lakeview Elementary School. The Indians also dropped a 4-2 non-league decision to Arlington last Thursday at Mahopac.

Left: Mahopac’s Arthur Strzepka pulls ball away from Shane Kelly of Putnam Valley. Photos by Skip Pearlman The split left the Indians at 4-1-1.

Monday against Putnam Valley, Greg Shannon took advantage of a mistake on the Tigers end, and stuck a ball in the net to give the Indians an early 1-0 lead.

The Tigers then caught the Indians the same way – a mistake on the Mahopac defensive end resulted in a goal, coming off the foot of PV’s Steven Arraiano.

From there, the Indians controlled most of the play.

Arthur Strzepka, Rob Schiera and Frank Fonseca added scores for Mahopac, which also got assists from Jesse Chan, Matt Ciruzzi and James Schiera.

Above: James Schiera (5) of Mahopac heads the ball in front of PV’s Gavin Rinaldo Adam Basuljevic stopped five shots on goal for Mahopac, while PV keeper William Brunke had three saves.

Indians coach Chris Emery felt his team started a little slowly.

“We came out a little flat,” Emery said. “Then Greg capitalized on a mistake by them, and I think that woke us up. Then they scored on a mistake by us – one of our players fell down – but we answered right back. And then I challenged them at halftime to come out and put them away. I was very pleased with the effort. Basuljevic had a nice game in goal, and Arthur and Fonseca also played well for us.”

Last Thursday against Arlington (4- 0), Renato Chira and Fonseca each had a goal for the Indians, and Shannon and Luke Fariselli each had one assist.

Dan Schiff Mahopac’s Miguel Paz (L) and Renato Chira (R) sandwich PV’s Dan Consolazio in Mahopac’s win Monday. Mike Lockwood had six saves for Arlington, and Basuljevic stopped 10 shots for Mahopac.

The Indians host Carmel today (Thursday) at 4:30 p.m. on the turf.