East Hampton Wins on Late Goal by Heroux

Three games in four days and well into the 79th minute of the third game, Kenny Steer summoned the stamina and speed to create one last scoring opportunity for East Hampton before overtime.

Having been outplayed for the better part of the game Monday against an Old Lyme team that had handed the Bellringers their only loss this season, the 0-0 score meant East Hampton’s goal of finishing first in the Shoreline Conference and as the top seed in the Class S tournament was still in its grasp. However, with each tick of the clock it was slowly slipping away. A tie would do no good. Someone needed to step up and make a play.

Maybe it would be Adam Guy, who delivered a pass to Steer as he raced up the right sideline.

“[Guy] played me a great ball down into the corner,” Steer said.

Perhaps it was Steer, who realized as he headed toward the corner his best play was to cut back.

“I knew if I tried to play it off the first touch I wasn’t going to do it,” Steer said. “So, I figured I had the kid beat if I cut it back. I played it across hoping somebody would be there.”

Or maybe it was Nate Heroux, a sweeper, who followed the play down field and positioned himself in front of the net. He was that somebody Steer found alone with a perfect pass.

“Then I looked up and Nathanial was right there and he just finished it beautifully,” Steer said.

Goalkeeper Aaron Clippinger had little chance against Heroux, whose goal gave East Hampton a 1-0 victory at Town Woods Park in Old Lyme.

“Two minutes left I thought someone’s going to put it in, so I started running,” Heroux said. “Hoping Kenny would play it across and … right to my foot. Couldn’t ask for much more. That was beautiful. I was hoping he’d play it across and he played it right to my foot. All I did was touch it. Perfect ball from Kenny.”

In the end you could say it was all three, if not a team effort.

In the beginning, however, Old Lyme’s quickness posed problems for East Hampton. The Wild Cats applied consistent pressure, though quality scoring chances were limited by the Bellringers defense.

“We dodged some bullets,” coach Bob Boscarino said. “In the first half we made some mistakes and dodged some bullets. The second half I thought was a little more even but we made the play. They won every 50-50 [ball] in the first half. I think in the second half we worked harder for that not to happen. We were fortunate they didn’t get one in the first half.”

Old Lyme (12-3), which defeated East Hampton 3-1 on Sept. 21, continued to apply pressure in the second half, out-possessing the Bellringers but again creating few scoring chances.

“They’re very solid, they possess the ball very well,” Boscarino said. “We knew what we were getting. They’re very good athletes. They’re very fast and they move the ball very well. We had a tough time matching up some of our kids because they were just quicker."

With first place in the Shoreline Conference on the line as well as the top seed in the Class S tournament, there was much riding on the outcome of the game for East Hampton (14-1). The Bellringers needed to win their final two games to secure both. Keeping the Wild Cats off the scoreboard until the offense could find a way to come through fell on the defense, which rose to the occasion.

“We have Nate in the back, Jake [Beebe] and Ben [Boscarino],” goalkeeper Austin Wosleger said. “Nate’s always been great back there and Jake just locks them up. Jake takes the best player every game. Today it was Jeff Winters and Jake just knows how to lock them up.”

Boscarino has performed well since moving into the starting lineup recently.

According to Wosleger, the key defensively was not being too aggressive to the ball and waiting to see where the ball was going.

“Not ball chasing or anything and just sticking with your man,” he said.

With so much at stake late in a tie game, one would think pressure might start to play a role but Wosleger didn’t see it that way, at least not on Monday.

“Last year we went to [penalty kicks] at Cromwell, so that’s about as worse as it gets,” he said. “This is really nothing.”

Avenging their only loss this season made this victory all the sweeter.

“That feels really good, especially since we needed this game,” Steer said. “We needed to win out to win Shorelines and this was a huge game for us to win and we won it.

“We knew it was going to be a good game, we knew it was going to be real physical and we knew it was going to come down to the wire like it did.”

Next up for East Hampton is Hale-Ray on Thursday at home, the final game of the regular season and the final obstacle to reaching their regular season goals.

The Shoreline tournament will begin Nov. 2 with the semifinals. East Hampton will be home against an opponent yet to be determined.

“They’ve done a phenomenal job,” Boscarino said. “All the kudos to the kids. I’m impressed with them.”