Goal from Gill Clinches County Tournament

The boys soccer team met rival Delbarton at a neutral field in Roxbury Wednesday night to play the Morris County Tournament.  Delayed for the October snow storm and later for post season conflicts, the game was worth the wait albeit somewhat marred by a persistent rain.

FINAL

IN SHORT

In the fifth minute of play, Trip Burke made a diagonal pass near the top of the penalty box to David Gill who rolled the ball behind goalie Luke Rossi and into the Delbaton goal.  The goal would stand as the game winner for the Cougars. 

Except for the lone goal, the play was generally even in the first half with both teams have opportunities to score and both being sent packing by the respective defenses. But the second half would see a significant change in the action.  Delbarton took command and was able to keep the ball in the Chatham end for most of the period. But Chatham was up to the challenge turning away run after run by the Green Wave. 

Chatham goalie, Brian Petrunik, tournament MVP, faced volley after volley from Delbarton. "At the end there, they were really pushing," said Petrunik, "they crossed the ball in so well.  I got a lot of lucky bounces."

THEY SAID IT

"We took a little bit from the Delbarton playbook. I watched them play Seton Hall Prep and I thought they did a phenomenal job of containing their really tough front runners and midfielders and they played for counters.  And we were seeing that we could get David Gill through some diagonal runs and Trip (Burke) hit him with a nice ball and he put it in. Then we decided to focus on defense and wait for counter plays. We really focused on being up and playing smart team defense which something we do very well. I am tremendously proud of the guys.  Four years ago we had an entirely new team. Two or three of these boys have been with me for four full years. To make it to the state final and the county final last year, and now to make it to the county final and win is a great way for these guys to go out.  I am very very proud of them." - Chatham coach Gene Foca

"I guess I played better than I thought.  They are a really good team, probably the best team I ever played. I just stuck with it and we ended up on top."  - Brian Petrunik

"Just playing a great team like Delbarton for the Morris County final, as a senior, and for your last game, it means so much." - Matt Proto

"I am very very proud of these boys. They were competitors all year.  It's tough, because we out shot and out possessed but just could not score. It is tough coming back after a loss.  They fought hard. I am proud of what they showed tonight.  It is too bad the result isn't what we wanted.  But they are as quality a team as I have seen in NJ this year." - Delbarton coach David Donovan