by Warren Kozireski
Luke Pavone scored on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute and Lukas Fernandes netted an insurance goal from midfield in the dying seconds of the game as Churchville-Chili defeated visiting Irondequoit 2-0 in boys soccer.
It was a goalkeeper’s duel throughout the first half and the first ten minutes of the second as senior Mike Luciw made a diving stop in the 24th minute and again four minutes later. Eagles’ goalkeeper Justin Slattery was equally impressive with a diving save on a Frank Ciliberto shot just four minutes in and another in the 28th minute.
The Saints’ Pavone and Ciliberto shot wide in the early stages of the second half and Nick Kehl was thwarted on another diving stop in the 50th minute of play before C-C finally got on the board.
Pavone chased down a long pass from midfield and was eventually taken down in the box. He converted the resulting penalty kill to put the Saints up 1-0.
C-C had two more chances to pad their lead, but an indirect kick by Fernandes was headed just wide by Nick Gutberiet in the 72nd minute and a Zach Perkins shot and a Kehl rebound were both stopped by the Eagles goalkeeper.
Irondequoit pressured late, but Luciw punched out one attempt and grabbed the rebound with 90 seconds remaining to preserve his fifth shutout of the campaign.
With the Irondequoit goalkeeper pushed up to midfield, the freshman Fernandes gathered a loose ball and found the net with a high, arcing ball from 50 yards out for the final tally.
“We are peaking at the right time I believe,” said Saints head coach John Mahoney after his team’s first non-divisional win of the season. “Our 4-5-3 overall record is deceiving with the non-division opponents we’ve played, but we’ve allowed just one goal over our last four games.”
