Varsity Boys Soccer began the 2023-2024 season last Friday night with a rain-soaked, friendly game against Klein Collins at home.

Both teams seemed to be finding their legs Friday night for the first several minutes with no clear possession winner. Keeper Jack Bermack had a few early saves to keep Klein Collins off the board. But the Tigers opened up the scoring with a goal in the 20th minute. Stratford created several opportunities not long thereafter, including shots from Hanno Waguespack and Everett Dwyer. But the Spartans would not stay off the board for long. In the 34th minute, Santi Chelala took a corner from the right side, which bounced around and kicked out again to the right. Chelala took it out wide and beat his defender for a cross to the middle, where Hanno was waiting to volley it in for Stratford’s first goal of the season. In the final minutes of the first half, the Spartans were on the move again as Mateo Dimarelli took a shot on target that was saved by the keeper. Halftime 1-1

Again, there was no clear advantage to start the second half as both teams were still working out the kinks from off-season. Klein Collins was on the attack early though, and in the 49th minute, took a corner from the left side. A nice corner was put in the middle and headed up high to the middle of the goal, but Bermack came up with a great save again. Just a few minutes later, Stratford had a corner opportunity. Chelala took the corner, which was blocked out high outside the box. Dawson Burgett was waiting and took the volley with a hard shot to the right side of the goal. Golazo Stratford!! Stratford up 2-1. However, it wasn’t long before Klein Collins evened it up at 2-2.

In the 58th minute, the Spartans put together a beautiful team play. Chelala passed up from midfield to Dimarelli, who passed right back to him. Chelala made a long through ball where Dwyer had beat his defender and passed the keeper on the right side by the post, GOAL Stratford! 3-2.

Stratford put another on the board in the 67th minute with a goal from 25 yards out by Jasper Hartman. Stratford 4-2.

The Tigers weren’t ready to give up however, and hit a tough goal in the 70th minute, where they had a one-on-one situation and chipped over Bermack for a goal, making it 4-3. They equalized with 4 minutes left on a really nice goal that just nicked the top crossbar. 4-4

However, your Spartans would not be satisfied with a tie and stepped up the urgency. In the 78th minute, as the Spartan offense continued the attack, Lorenzo Maule took the ball out to the left, beat the defender, and took a shot to the close post. It bounced off the post to the center of the goalbox where Hanno was waiting for a quick shot in to the bottom left side of the goal!

Stratford held on for the final few minutes for a 5-4 victory! Congratulations, Spartans, for a great WIN to start the season!

The team hopes to see you all in January when pre-season continues.