[Baltimore Sun] David Brunetti’s goals lift No. 3 Curley boys soccer past No. 13 Gilman, 2-1
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The value of having a proven goal scorer was front and center in Wednesday’s boys soccer game between Curley and visiting Gilman.
The host Friars have one in David Brunetti, while the Greyhounds’ season-long frustration of not having one showed up again.
Brunetti scored a goal in each half, his second coming with 7:04 remaining proving to be the game winner as No. 3 Curley grinded out a 2-1 win over No. 13 Gilman in Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference play.
With three regular season games left, the Friars (14-2-1) improve to 10-2-1 in conference play, tied with McDonogh (9-0-4 in conference) for second place with 31 points. Defending champion Loyola Blakefield (11-2-1) remains in first place with 34 points. Gilman (5-7-5, 3-7-4) is tied with Archbishop Spalding (4-8-2, 4-8-1) for the sixth and final playoff spot with 13 points.
After controlling much of the first half and taking a lead on Brunetti’s penalty kick 15 minutes into play, the Friars held off a considerable push from the Greyhounds that started late in the first half and lasted well into the second half. And then more came from Brunetti, who took a short pass from Alex Katris and finished off a chance from 14 yards that made it 2-0 with 7:04 to play.
“I saw the ball come through to me, so I just took a touch, picked my head up, stayed composed and tucked it away,” he said.
As for taking on the role of finisher for the Friars this season and finding the way to win on Wednesday, he added: “It’s a big role to take on and I can’t do it without my teammates. It wasn’t a pretty win today but we found a way to get the three points.”
To the Greyhounds’ credit, they stayed persistent despite allowing the late insurance goal and finally broke through with 4:08 left when Izzy Iijima got a piece of the long free kick Greyson Greenlee sent in to the area to make it 2-1.
The Greyhounds couldn’t convert on their sixth corner kick moments later and had another shot blocked in front before the Friars burned off the final minute.
The visitors had some quality possession time that created scoring chances, but once again struggled with the vital final touch. After goalie Noah Sineda helped keep it a 1-0 deficit with big saves, chance after chance to tie went for naught.
With 1:10 to play in the first half, Caleb Lawson’s header at the far post went slightly high and over. Marko Mihajlovic had his left-footed shot from the left side deflected away by Friars defender Nick Lentz with 23:30 left in the second half. Moments later, a corner kick sent back in stayed in front before finally being cleared by Matt Stitz.
Gilman vs. Archbishop Curley in boys soccer | PHOTOS
The Greyhounds, unable to capitalize on often fine buildup play, have scored 10 goals in their 14 league play and were minutes away from a fifth straight scoreless game before Iijima’s breakthrough.
“We’re all frustrated,” Gilman coach Jon Seal said. “We’re having trouble scoring the ball and it’s not from a lack of effort. It’s one of those confidence things and it seems like we’re waiting for a bounce to go our way instead of going out and having confidence in ourselves to make something good happen.
“You have to give credit to Curley. We came here knowing we were going to be playing a quality opponent and I thought it was two good teams getting after each other. We just didn’t make enough plays to tie it up or go ahead. It’s been the same kind of script all season and we got to flip the narrative.”
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The Greyhounds will get that chance Friday afternoon when they host last-place Concordia Prep at 4:15 p.m. Next Wednesday, they have a vital road game against Spalding.
The Friars are still battling for one of the top seeds, which would give them a bye in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs. They’ll travel to John Carroll on Friday with game time set for 3:30.
“Things are tight. At this point, we’re still trying to play for that top spot, which gives you a bye and home field advantage in the semifinals,” Curley coach Barry Stitz said. “Not having to play that extra game is big in this league, especially this year where we’ve seen whoever ends up in sixth place is capable of beating a top team. We got three games left, so we’re going to play hard and take care of what we can.”
Have a news tip? Contact Glenn Graham at ggraham@baltsun.com, 410-332-6636 and x.com/GlennGrahamSun.
Goals: G — Iijimi; AC — Brunetti 2
Assists: G — Greenlee; AC — Katris
Saves: G — Sinada 5; AC — Griffith 4
Half: AC, 1-0
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