By Dylan Butler
Scoring goals for the Jamaica soccer team appears to run in the Toussaint family. A year after Trent Toussaint helped lead the Beavers to the PSAL 'B' finals before graduating, his younger brother Theodore has followed in his brother's footsteps. The sophomore striker from Trinidad scored two goals in Jamaica's 3-2 win over Robert F. Wagner Friday at Jamaica.
“That's a tradition in the family going back to Trinidad,” Jamaica head coach Don Haynes said. “Theodore is a very skilled player. Last year we had to bench him a lot because he needed to straighten out some problems, but he has been listening and he fits in well with this team.”
But while each Toussaint brother has scored his share of goals for the Beavers, Haynes said they are different players.
“Trent has the speed and a lot of skill around the goal. I don't think anyone had his speed,” Haynes said. “But [Theodore] is a more skillful striker.”
Freshman Arturo Lanuza scored the game's first goal 30 minutes into the first half when his shot from 10 yards out deflected off a Panthers defender to give Jamaica (6-3 Queens North 'B') a 1-0 lead.
Four minutes into the second half, Robert F. Wagner (3-5, 2-4 Queens North 'B') tied the game when Vicente Devia beat Jamaica keeper Sergino Hardy to the ball at the top of the box and slotted it into the open net.
In the 52nd minute, Toussaint scored his first goal of the game as he tipped in Lanuza's cross that had Wagner sophomore keeper Valdimir Fernandez beat, to give Jamaica a 2-1 lead.
“I like when the pressure is on,” Toussaint said. “It makes me play harder.”
The Beavers had very little time to enjoy the lead, because less than a minute later Wagner struck again. Devia found himself unmarked and tied the score at 2 from 22 yards out.
“It is something I try and teach the team,” Haynes said. “We just relaxed. When we score, I tell them to focus, focus, focus. But they're kids. Even grown-ups let up after goals.”
In the 66th minute Javier Raymondi's shot was tipped by Fernandez and ricocheted off the post. Again Toussaint was opportunistic, pouncing on the rebound and blasting it inside the net to give the Beavers a 3-2 lead.
“That type of situation is taught to him in Trinidad,” Haynes said. “They teach you to follow up. He's a natural goal scorer. He follows through on everything.”
This time the Beavers would not squander their one-goal lead and almost added to it in the 74th minute when Samora Wright's free kick from 18 yards out was stopped by Fernandez before it bounced off the crossbar.
Despite the loss, Robert F. Wagner head coach Ignazio Accardi is pleased with the play of his first-year team.
“I'm very proud of them. We're very small compared to these soccer powerhouses,” he said. “It comes down to experience. Much like a pick-up game in the park, most of our play was in the middle of the field. Experience teaches you to go out wide.”
While the Beavers are coming off a year where they lost in the city 'B' finals by one goal to Flushing, Haynes said this is a different team, with only six returnees.
“We have a lot of new players, nine new faces this year,” he said. “It's a major transition to get them to play together.”
Hillcrest 6, Edison 0. Rudolph Young scored two goals and Kevin James, Carlyle Williams, Pablo Rojas and Travis Chin each added a goal apiece to lead the Hawks (7-4, 6-4 Queens North 'B').
LIC 5, Aviation 2. The Bulldogs were led by Fernando Andrade, Carlos Moncleano and Mike Salvador, who each scored. Keeper Myron Vasquez had five saves for LIC (4-5-2 Queens West 'A').
Hillcrest 6, Townsend Harris 0. Williams netted a hat trick and Yaha Assaedi had four saves to earn the shutout for Hillcrest.
Flushing 3, Francis Lewis 2. Trailing 2-1 in the second half, the Red Devils rallied for two goals by Han Soo Jun and Marek Skorupski to defeat the Patriots. Flushing (6-4-2 Queens East 'A') leads third-place Cardozo (5-5-1 Queens East 'A') by one point in the battle for the final playoff spot in the Queens East 'A' division with one game left in the regular season for each team. Francis Lewis, who has already clinched the regular season title, hosts the Judges and Flushing heads to Forest Hills in games scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Bayside 4, Hillcrest 2. Max Tai, Jeremy O'Brien, Alex Beltran and Gerald Prophete each scored a goal for the Commodores (13-0 Queens North 'B').
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.