BY KEN MORSE
The Naugy boys soccer team came out with a purpose, shutting down two opponents to start the season with two wins. The Greyhounds escaped a tough Watertown team Sept. 9, earning a hard-fought 1-0 victory.
Jayse Dansuzar steered a pass through the defense and Andy Nguyen wound up and buried it to the back of the net for the only tally of the game. Dan Anderson knocked away a pair of chances and the Naugy defense swarmed Watertown to keep them off the scoreboard.
“Our defense is solid,” stated Naugy coach Jose Sendra. “We have Jordan Francis back there along with Adrian Wichlinski, Deric Eshanghi and Haroun Sami. If we need a guy off the bench Kaleb Vaituzis can come in and play back there.”
Naugy showed that defensive prowess the next time out,taking a 4-0 decision over Kennedy on Sept. 12. Anderson turned back two shots on goal and a host of players off the bench scored the goals for the Hounds. Naugy got goals from Manase Mutshima, Aden Cruz, Raphael Oliveira and Joao Godoy Lourenco.
“We graduated a large group of seniors and we have 11 seniors back,” added Sendra. “But what I’m most impressed with is the underclassmen stepping into varsity roles and making an impact. We have a good mix of senior leadership and younger players making a difference.
“Manase usually plays defense but our assistant coach Mingo Branco said let’s give this guy a chance because we need some fresh legs on this position. I told him he was going in because he was strong with both feet. Trying to pump him up. I think it was the second time he touched the ball he scored.”
What has been helping Naugy put the pieces in place is a large contingent of players from the U15 team that went out to Nationals over the summer. Sendra mentioned his solid freshmen and sophomores, Ashwath Rajkumar, Jayse Danuszar, Mateo Aguilar, Rocco Grella, Jordan Francis, Kaleb Vaituzis, Haroun Sami, Deric Eshanghi and Antonio Guerreiro, all making an impact in the early going for the Hounds.
“I like the energy and the way we came out to start the season,” Sendra said. “There is a real good work ethic. We need to continue to play solid on defense and make the most of our chances on offense. If we can do that we will be alright.”
The Greyhounds will have a couple of tough tests this week, at Seymour on Sept. 18 and home against Oxford on Sept. 21.
