As of this past week, 12 of the 21 games played during the course of the 7-on-7 men’s soccer league’s fall season have wound up tied, testifying to the broadly based high level of play, the league’s director, Leslie Czeladko, said during a telephone conversation Friday.
Six regular-season games remained to be played at East Hampton’s Herrick Park this week, with three scheduled for Monday and three yesterday. The semifinals, with the fourth versus the top seed, and with the third versus the second, are to be played this coming Monday, at 6:30 and 7:45 p.m. The fall final is to be played Wednesday at 7:30.
As of Monday, F.C. Palora, the defending champion, led in the standings with a 4-2-1 record, followed by the East Hampton Soccer Club and F.C. Tuxpan, each at 3-1-3, Maidstone Market at 2-2-3, Sag Harbor United at 2-4-1, and Tortorella Pools at 1-5-1.
Going into this week’s play, Palora had wins over Maidstone Market, the East Hampton Soccer Club, and Tortorella Pools (two). It lost by forfeit to the Soccer Club on Oct. 25 and was bested 3-2 by F.C. Tuxpan, which was at full strength that night, on Sept. 29.
John Romero’s Maidstone Market team, which over the years has been the league’s perennial power, has on at least two occasions shown up for games shorthanded, and forfeited to F.C. Tuxpan on Oct. 25.
The Market as of Monday had played to a draw three times, as have the East Hampton Soccer Club and F.C. Tuxpan.
The first game of the season, contested by Tuxpan and the Soccer Club on Sept. 15, a game that ended in a 3-3 tie, seemed to set the tone for the fall campaign.
The Market and Tortorella Pools game on Sept. 29 wound up tied at 2-2, with Maidstone’s Jose Almansa, a veteran player, beating two defenders in the box in the final minutes to knot the score.
A man-down for the entire contest, Maidstone almost emerged the victor in a game with the Soccer Club on Oct. 13, but Mark Bako, who has a heavy foot, salvaged a 2-2 tie with his second goal of the night, which he scored in the final minutes.
On the 18th, Alex Meza, Maidstone’s starting keeper, played in the field, a good move on the Market’s part as it turned out, for Meza scored the game-tying goal, with an assist from Nick Escalante, late in the game. Cristian Compuzano, with 12 minutes remaining, had treated Tuxpan to a 1-0 lead with a 40-plus yard direct kick that Charles Escalante, Meza’s replacement in the goal, apparently lost sight of in the lights.
Tuxpan went up 2-0 in a game with the Soccer Club on Oct. 20, on goals by Marvin Martinez and Enrique Pichardo, but the Soccer Club’s Gustavo Gutama, in the first half, and Maicol Parra, with an assist from Justin Carpio, in the second, were able to get the Soccer Club even.
The league’s top scorers as of Monday were Palora’s Robert Cueva with eight goals, the Market’s Nick Escalante with six, and Sag Harbor United’s Gabriel Aroyo and the Soccer Club’s Mark Bako, each with five.