By Larry Moko
The Newman senior boys' high school soccer team proved the doubters wrong.
"Everybody doubted us this year," St. John Henry Newman Cardinals coach Gerry Moretuzzo said. "They said 'there's no way. They lost so many guys."
"But we've still got a bunch of players who are here for a fourth year and their leadership has been spectacular."
Moretuzzo made the comments after Newman edged the visiting Bishop Ryan Celtics, 4-3, for the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic championship Thursday.
It was Newman's fourth-consecutive year in the league final -- all against Bishop Ryan -- and third-straight title.
Both teams advance to the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference semifinals on May 27. Newman is scheduled to play host to the White Oaks Wildcats while the Celtics travel to Oakville to face the Loyola Hawks.
"Outside of the school, there obviously were some doubters," Cardinals veteran Massimo Cuda said. "Within our team, though, we believe in ourselves.
"We've had good back-to-back OFSAA runs (winning silver medals twice) and we expect to do well again this year."
Cuda is one of the Newman captains.
The first-place Cardinals gained the momentum after only a couple of minutes of action on a goal by wing Miles Phillips. Phillips then contributed a brilliant long and high shot for a goal before setting up Kenan Hodzic's marker as the home team took a 3-1 lead by the 59-minute mark.
The second-place Celtics made a spirited comeback attempt, however. A free-kick goal by Max Pasilak and two by Joseph Cino made for an exciting finish.
"Our guys came out strong in the second half," Celtics coach Joe Cvitak said. "We never gave up. I thought we had control of the middle for most of the game.
"It was a tough loss. We thought we had it this year."
A few weeks ago, at Newman, BR handed the Cardinals their only loss of the regular schedule (2-0).
"We've been dialed in since then," Moretuzzo said.
The last four league finals between Newman and BR have all been decided by one goal.
"I didn't expect anything different today," the BR coach said. "It was intense. I knew it was going to be a tough game. Last year we were up 2-0 and ended up losing."
A header goal by Paolo Fazzari on a pass from Hodzic gave Newman a 4-2 advantage in the 74th minute before Cino's header a minute later cut the margin to one.
According to the Newman coach, his team played well and was opportunistic in building a 2-0 halftime lead.
"Every time we seemed to get a little bit of a cushion BR would come back," he said. "I thought they played fantastic. They're well-coached and organized."
Said Cuda: "Things got a little hectic but we kept our composure pretty well."
A factor in Newman's success this season has been the play of Cuda, who accepted being moved back to midfield from his striker position.
"We needed him to play midfield," Moretuzzo said. "He's probably one of the career scoring leaders at Newman but he knew this year he had to set back and be the assist guy.
"He did it for the team. He's smart, invested and such a great team player. Nobody works harder."
Cuda added: "I'm used to being that guy up top scoring a lot of goals. But at the end of the day the only thing that matters is winning."
Other players on the Newman roster include Joshua Mayich, Ethan Crossan, Bleron Azemi, Zack Lukezic, Mateo Soares, Stefan Trkulja, Lukas Gvozdenovic, Lucas Liszek, Sasha Sablic, Bohdan Zuzanskyy, Amadeo Serafino, Jaxson Iaquinto, Matthew Matuvi, Tatenda Maningi, Alex Lucato, Mohamed Abdo, Tony Matuvi, Anthony Villella and Nick Hrvatin.
The GHAC semifinal winners at the AAA level qualify for the OFSAA tournament June 5-7 in Kingston.
Photos by Richard Andoga
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