Indians Top Bears, Shut Out Panthers

MAHOPAC—The Brewster and Mahopac High boys soccer teams hooked up for a cold and dark meeting last Friday at the new Baldwin Meadows field in Mahopac, and it was the Indians who walked off with a 4-1 League 1-B victory.

Above: Mahopac’s Arthur Strzepka (18) had a hat - t r ick in a wi n over Brewster last week. Right: Mahopac’s Frank Fonseca and Brewster’s Marc Delzio vie for possession. Far right: Dave Sparozic of Mahopac clears ball against Brewster. Photos by SKIP PEARLMAN Mahopac also dropped a 1-0 decision to Lakeland last Wednesday on the road, and the ‘Pac opened the week Monday with a 4-0 win over Panas. Brewster also dropped a 3-1 decision to Yorktown Wednesday, and beat Panas 4-0 Saturday.

Friday at Baldwin Meadows, Walter Espana scored Brewster’s only goal of the game, assisted by Alex Minsker.

But the Bears were unable to contain the Indians, who got a hat-trick from Arthur Strzekpa. Frank Fonseca added a goal, and Luke Fariselli, Renata Chiera, and Ryan Lakestream each had an assist.

Jason DiNardo stopped 10 shots for Brewster (6-5-2), and Adam Basuljevic had seven saves for the Indians.

The win left Mahopac at 10-3-2 overall, 6-2-1 in League 1-B. If Mahopac beats Carmel (Tuesday, too late for this edition) in the regular-season finale, Mahopac would tie Lakeland for the league’s best record.

Mahopac coach Chris Emery liked the way his team took control early against Brewster.

“I thought we came out and knocked them out early,” Emery said. “We scored on our first possession, and never let them back in. It was a huge game for Arthur, and Fonseca was also great up front. Andrew Gorodess did a good job in back with Luke Fariselli, Dave Sparozic, and Rob Farrell. They did a very solid job in the back.”

In Wednesday’s loss to Lakeland (11-3-1), Sebastian Marquez scored the game’s only goal 27:50 into the first half.

Basuljevic had eight saves, and Steve Reiche had eight stops for Lakeland.

“We passed really well, and played well, we just couldn’t finish,” Emery said.

In Monday’s win over Panas, Mahopac got two goals from Strzepka, and Greg Shannon and Matt Ciruzzi also scored.

In Brewster’s win over Panas, the Bears got two goals from Chris Murray. Minsker and Ryan Williams also scored for the Bears, and DiNardo had four saves in net.

In Wednesday’s loss to Yorktown, Matt Santoriello scored for the Bears.

Soccer sectionals are set to begin this weekend, TBA.