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2nd Half Corner Spoils New Canaan Boys Soccer’s Upset Bid over Rival Blue Wave

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After starting the season with three consecutive losses, the New Canaan boys soccer team notched its first point of the season with a 1-1 tie against Brien McMahon on Saturday—an effort they hoped would give them momentum coming in to Tuesday’s matchup at Conner Field against arch rival Darien. But while the defense and spectacular goaltending by senior co-captain Sam Stoner kept the Rams (0-4-1) in it till the end, it proved to not be enough as Darien midfielder Sean Gallagher connected with teammate Jason Flynn on a corner kick in the 62nd minute to give the Blue Wave (3-2-0) all the scoring it would need to claim the victory, 1-0. “I said to the team after the game that I thought they worked incredibly hard,” head coach Rich Sutherland told NewCanaanite.com. “I feel Darien’s going to be top-eight [in the FCIAC] again this season. They have some very good players on that team which we were prepared for.

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‘See Games All the Way Through’: 2016 New Canaan Boys Soccer Preview

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After finishing the 2015 season with a 3-8-5 record, the New Canaan boys soccer was reminded that it’s difficult to make the playoffs when you play your entire schedule in the vaunted FCIAC. And that’s not just limited to the conference’s playoffs. With three games remaining on their schedule last year, the Rams needed to win just one of them to clinch a berth in the CIAC Class L state tournament—but that win would not come. And so the team fell short of one of its goals. Chief among those disappointed with the outcome of how last season went was the team’s head coach, Rich Sutherland.

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New Canaan Boys Soccer Erases Deficit To Tie Central 2-2

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Coming into the 2015 season, the New Canaan Boys Soccer team was a squad with only a handful or so players who were varsity-tested. Which left both the Rams coaching staff and fans intrigued to find out what type of performance the team was exactly capable of. Through the first 12 games of the regular season, it’s been evident that the boys can certainly play defense as they had only allowed 16 goals coming into Friday afternoon’s contest against the Hilltoppers of Bridgeport Central. And stellar defense always keeps a game within reach. So even after the Rams (3-5-5) fell behind by two goals early, efforts on the defensive end from a host of players kept the deficit there.

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New Canaan Boys Soccer Stymies Trumbull in 3-0 Victory

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Early on this season for New Canaan boys’ soccer, getting a lead has not been a problem, as they have been in front in each of their first four games—the problem had been keeping them. But after Vinny Altamura put the Rams on the board early in the first half, strong defense helped New Canaan (2-2-1) hold onto its lead. Then the boys of Conner Field added to it by scoring twice off of two spectacularly executed corners in the second half to defeat the Trumbull Golden Eagles (2-2-1) 3-0 in a pivotal early contest in the FCIAC standings. “I thought we were brilliant for the way we set up,” head coach Rich Sutherland told NewCanaanite.com. “We frustrated Trumbull, who probably had close to 80 percent of the possession and I thought were very good, probably the best team that we’ve played so far.

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New Canaan Rams Boys Soccer Preview: Team Spirit, Cohesion and Chemistry

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Coming off a season that included a spectacular upset, 3-0 victory over No. 3 seed Platt Tech in the opening round of the state tournament, the program’s first win in the CIAC tourney since 2011, the Rams boys varsity soccer team is eager to get back on the pitch in 2015 and fight to go even further. Leading them in that fight are the team’s three senior captains—goalkeeper Griffin Paterson, center-midfielder Brett Capone, and left/right forward Jack Dinnie—each of whom “can really play,” third-year head coach Rich Sutherland told NewCanaanite.com. “Griffin, our goalkeeper, has been a standout the last couple years, which is great. Brett’s basically been ever-present on this team since he was a freshman, so he’s been there, seen it and done it now for the last three years—certainly leads off the field as well,” Sutherland said.