By Arthur V. Claps
David Price saw the wear and tear on the team, so he decided it was time for a break.
“We have stalled on offense, allowed soft goals on defense and that has turned into losses,” said the New York Freedoms coach of the squad, which made the jump from the Premier Developmental League to the D3-Pro League this season. The players “[are worn out], some injured. I gave them a week off to gather themselves, start fresh.”
The rest helped tremendously as the rejuvenated Freedoms snapped a three-game losing streak with an impressive 2-1 win over the Reading Rage Saturday at St. John’s University.
The victory kept New York (9-4 Atlantic Division) in a first-place tie with New Jersey in the conference and seven points ahead of the third-place Long Island.
“This was a big win for us,” said forward Aboubcar Camara, who put the team on the board with an early second half score. “We needed to pick it up. Now it’s a new start, a new season for us.”
The Freedoms fell off a bit since a franchise-best 6-0 start. The sluggish attack was kept scoreless in the last three games and the defense, which sparkled early in the year, was reached for 10 goals during the same stretch. Price said the strong level of play started to catch up with the team.
“It’s getting closer in the division — only eight points separate four teams,” the first-year coach and former St. John’s standout explained. “Every game is vital now. For a lot of these players, it’s a totally new experience [on this level]. But this win relieved a lot of pressure on us.”
For the first 45 minutes, though, it seemed the Freedoms were too aggressive. Several chances were blundered with five offside calls. Once the team relaxed, the Freedoms put the game out of reach with a pair of scores in the second half.
The team finally got off the snide in the 53rd minute. Camara took a short pass from Jesse Van Saun and whistled a 25-yarder that Reading goalie Henry Ellis never had a chance to stop.
New York pounded Reading (2-12-1) with four shots on goal in the next 10 minutes. In the 64th minute, Camara found a wide-open Rocky Bojovic in the box. The fleet-footed Bojovic dumped a short 10-yard shot to give the Freedoms a commanding 2-0 lead.
“We changed the way we played in the first half,” Camara said. “We were trying to do too much, and it didn’t work.”
Defensively, the Freedoms were nearly flawless, keeping the Rage without a shot on goal for the first 82 minutes. The Rage made the most of its lone shot when James Connor tipped a close-range shot past New York goalie Jay Palmer in the 84th minute.
The Freedoms staved off the Rage attack in the final six minutes to notch the win.
“We need to win the next six of final seven games,” Camara said. “It was a big win, but we need to keep it coming.”
Rhode Island Stingrays 4, Brooklyn Knights 1. Shaun Higgins stuffed home Mike Marcelino’s rebound to put the visiting Knights ahead, 1-0 in the 5th minute. But Brooklyn (6-10 PDL Northeast Division) had very little time to relish its rare early lead as the Stingrays scored two goals in a five-minute span to take a 2-1 lead nine minutes later.
Rhode Island (5-9-1) scored two more goals in the final six minutes to put the game away at Cranston Stadium in Cranston, R.I. Saturday night.
Brooklyn, which has lost three straight, will wrap up its disappointing season this weekend with a pair of games on the road. Friday the Knights play at second-place Cape Cod before facing first-place Vermont Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Reach contributing writer Arthur V. Claps by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
