With the top spot in the FCIAC conference on the line, Greenwich and Danbury dueled under the lights at Cardinal Stadium, with Greenwich coming out on top (and still unbeaten) by a score of 3-0 on Tuesday night.
After nearly an hour delay due to the mechanical problems with the Danbury bus, the Hatters (10-2-2) could not get things started on the field as Greenwich (11-0-2) jumped out to an early lead in the 14th minute of play and never looked back.
“I’m not too sure either the extended warm up or the lack of warm up necessarily benefits one team over the other, but I think [Danbury] would have liked to come here and got the proper warmup,” said GHS head coach Kurt Putnam. “They were a bit slow off the bus, where we were on the field for an hour and a half warming up.”
“I’m trying to show them that when we move the ball around, that’s when we’re at our very best,” Putnam said of his team’s play. “That’s when we cause teams real problems.”
Coming off their first corner kick of the match in the 17th minute, the Cardinals were able to get a clean shot on goal, and when a rebound came off the goalie’s hands, it was Federico Irigoyen who cleaned up the open shot and found the back of the net.
Just three minutes later, a goal scored in similar fashion — off an own-miss rebound — was put in the back of the net by Alejandro Maclean.
“It’s a huge statement,” Maclean said of the 5-0 win. “This is one of the top teams and we knew we were going to have to show up against one of the best in the FCIAC. Not only did we win, but we won comfortably. We played well and organized.”
A minute before the halftime buzzer, Sebastian Hernandez pushed Greenwich’s lead to 3-0 with a goal of his own.
In the final 10 minutes of play, the Cardinals put up two more goals courtesy of James Huber (72’) and Tim Bennett (75’) to cap off the statement victory over one of the FCIAC’s best.
“What I liked the most was our real tough, tenacious defending,” said Putnam. “I think we got that today all over the field. I thought we did a really good job of keeping what’s been a really impressive team in Danbury to only two or three shots all game.”
With the win, Greenwich (11-0-2) remains unbeaten with three games left in the regular season. The Cardinals will host Fairfield Ludlowe (10/20) and Stamford (10/22) before concluding their regular season on the road against Brien McMahon.
