Middlesex Boys' Varsity Soccer Match Report, 9/23/2017
MX 1 @ St. Mark's 3
 
The Middlesex boys stumbled out of the gate in the first ISL match day of the season, dropping a disappointing 3-1 result away to St. Mark's.  Middlesex stayed compact and in control defensively in the first half, knowing that St. Mark's would play a deep lying counterattack system to their dynamic forward, Matt Leigh.  The best chances of the half belonged to Middlesex, but the luck was with St. Mark's in the 28^th minute when Cooper Schmitz mishit a cross for St. Mark's from 25 yards out on the right flank that wound up going about 25 feet in the air and came down nestled in the side of the Middlesex net for a 1-0 lead.  The second half saw Middlesex attempt to play a more expansive game, but unsuccessfully, as passes were not crisp and there were several dribbling turnovers in the middle of the field.  St. Mark's advanced their lead to 3-0 with breakaway goals in the 58^th and 69^th minutes for senior Matt Leigh, as he was sprung by their long ball approach.  Leigh's pace and finishing were too much on the day, and while the system of play was not pretty to watch for soccer purists, the result speaks for itself.  Middlesex did work hard until the final whistle and got a consolation in the 86^th minute when junior Josh Quirk set up junior Jacob Charles along the top of the box for a very good finish to pull back to 3-1.  With few individual performances to highlight, junior defender Justin D'Alessandro really stood out as Middlesex's man of the match for his work ethic, solid defending, and marauding runs forward.  Anyolo Makatiani also had two excellent finishes disallowed for Middlesex by the linesman's flag, but the overall performance was not up to the standard expected of the team.  The good news is that there is another chance to improve in training on Monday, and Tabor comes to town on Wednesday for their first ISL match with Middlesex.