Neighborly connection pushes Maple Hill boys soccer past Chatham

CASTLETON, NY — Coming off a four-nil win Saturday at Cairo-Durham, the Maple Hill Boys Varsity soccer team wasted no time throwing digits on the scoreboard Tuesday afternoon.

Just two minutes and 20 seconds into the game, Maple Hill Senior Garrett Axtmann put one in off a connection from another MH Senior, Cole Cioffi, and Junior Alex Blue. “We came out with a level of intensity that they just didn’t have,” Axtmann said.

Minutes later, Cioffi scored his own goal thanks to excited hands (to put it nicely) from the Chatham keeper.  Less than 10 minutes later, again it was Axtmann who scored to put MH up three-nil before the first half was even halfway in the books.

Not to be outdone, Alex Blue pushed one of his own past the Chatham keeper, bringing the MH lead to four with just over 14 minutes remaining.

During the last few minutes of the first half, Chatham made things interesting with a keeper change and a goal to make it a four-one game at the half.

The second half featured a level of chippiness unseen in the first 40 minutes, adding a little excitement to the otherwise dull game. Still, Maple Hill continued to pound the scoreboard with goals as Ethan Samarija delivered his first goal of the season to take back the Wildcats four-goal lead, now five-one.

Everyone loves when the little guy scores, and with only six minutes and 29-seconds remaining we got that thanks to a connection years in the making when Senior Jeremy Price scored his first career varsity goal from his childhood friend Alex Blue.  The two not only are close friends but live a few hundred feet away from each other on a road that up until 1990 was just a dirt path.  “I was very excited, Alex and I have been neighbors on Carney Road forever and playing soccer forever too, so it was very cool to get my first goal from him,” Price said.

Both teams will play again on Wednesday, with Chatham on the road at Greenville and the Wildcats home again playing host to Coxsackie-Athens.