Will North (5-0, 7-0) ranked #4 in New York State’s AA League hosted Orchard Park (3-1-1, 4-1-1) in an ECIC Division 1 match-up Wednesday afternoon. As expected it was a very tightly contested game. The teams played on the new turf field in front of a decent sized crowd.
Will North received a goal late from senior Ali Attai, a senior playing in his 2nd season with the varsity club. The score coming during the 59th minute was Attai’s 5th goal of the year. “There was some good build-up to Attai’s goal. He had a few good chances that were blocked and then I believe it was his 4th shot during that sequence that went in,” Coach Dave Lamastra said after the game. “We came out a bit flat. The first half wasn’t good. We had a good talk at the half and picked it up in the 2nd.
The Spartans received some excellent defensive play from their core backfield unit commonly referred to as “the wall”. Three seniors Ben Hingston, Mike Dukesbury, Max Carroll and junior Ryan Allen have played extremely well in front of junior goalkeeper Donovan Reed. North has surrendered just one goal this season. They tied Niagara-Wheatfield in a non-league game to open the season. They haven’t allowed a goal since.
“Dono has been solid, he’s very good” said Coach Lamastra. “This team is great. We have a lot of good young players and the guys in front just play really hard” Reed said. “We lost 11 players last year and I miss them all but the young guys have responded.”
“I expect a pretty physical game Saturday against West Seneca (East). We don’t take anybody lightly. Our goal is to win states” Attai said.
“Our guys battled hard. We had chances” OP Head Coach Josh Dannecker said after the loss. “We just weren’t able to finish. North is a really good team. We have three games in 3 days, tomorrow a non-league against St. Francis and then Clarence on Friday.”
Chase Eagan, just a sophomore leads OP with 6 goals. “I love playing Varsity. My teammates are really good to me. I know I have more goals in me. I need to be better and score more.”
The Quakers came into Wednesday’s game winning three of their last four including a 9-0 thrashing of Jamestown. The lone defeat was to Clarence. They’ll have another shot at them on Friday.
Williamsville North remains undefeated at 8-0.