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Sports

Commack Soccer Narrowly Beats Pat-Med, 1-0

A late turn-around helps the Cougars avoid an unnecessary draw.

Commack boys soccer (12-1-0, 10-1-0 League 1) narrowly avoided another loss, this time against Patchogue-Medford (7-5-0, 5-5-0 League 1). Lee Manchio snuck in a quick goal with a little over 20 minutes left to play. Sloppy passing, poor ball control, and little shot accuracy could have defined this game, except the boys turned it around just in time to secure a win.

Hero: Lee Manchio more than resolved the team's frustration with his go ahead goal. However, Alex Joseph and the defense far too often get's far too little credit for not allowing opposing offenses to get a decent shot at goal. While Manchio's goal changed the course of the game, Joseph was arguably the only player on the field playing all 80 minutes.

Turning Point: Arguably, the Cougars only played 25 minutes of soccer today.  The other 55? That time was spent pecking at a ball with little rhyme or rhythm.  Whether it was out of frustration that they started playing or that they simply woke up, who knows.  In the moments just before Lee Manchio's goal with 23:11 left in the game, passes started coming together, the team began to spread out, and it paid off quickly.

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Quotable: "For some reason we came out a little flat at the half," said Coach Patrick Friel.  "Luckily though our talent took over. A win's, a win."

Bottom Line: For a moment, things looked like the Cougars wouldn't reach double digits in the wins column today.  And things may very well have stayed that way if they remained so sloppy. But once things returned to normal, and Manchio put Commack ahead, the crisp passing was quite a bit clearer. However, the one thing that seems to plague the Cougars is how tight they get when they're frustrated

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Key Stat: Passing percentage, but not in a good way. The Pat-Med's defense in the first half barely gave the Cougars a shot at goal, but not because they didn't have the space.  Right after the half especially, Commack looked sloppy, chopping at the ball and rarely getting in front of Pat-Med's defense.  Until the end of the game it seemed as if every through ball magically gravitated towards the opposition's feet.

Who's Next: Commack at Lindenhurst on Friday, 2 p.m..

Commack Boys Soccer

TEAMS……………………….……....….1…..2 – F

Commack………….………………....…0…..1 – 1

Patchogue-Medford.………………….0…..0 – 0

Goals – Commack: Manchio, Lee.  Saves – Commack Jake Amereno, 5 saves; John Kasman, 3 saves. Patchogue-Medford Keith Orlando, 18 saves.

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