Indoor Soccer
United U-14 tunes up for playoffs with shutout win

A relentless defense, highlighted by Chris Aurillio and Ben Roesser, and an opportunistic offense, courtesy of Jeff Miller, Ryan Hofschneider and Jordan Bookbinder, ensured a 5-0 win for the Amherst United over the Delaware United in a U-14 Sportsplex winter indoor soccer league game held on April 14. The game was a warm-up for the upcoming playoffs at Sportsplex.

One of the trademarks of the Amherst side this season is scoring first.

Just 2:50 into this contest, Aurillio had the header off a Bookbinder corner kick, playing it up and to the left of the despairing goalkeeper.

A.J. Miles stretched the Amherst lead three minutes later by crashing the net and getting to the loose ball that Delaware could not clear.

Timely play at the midfield by Tommy Ryan and Alex Buell helped the United increase the lead. Taking away an opponent's clearing try, the United forced the ball back into the attacking zone, which gave Hofschneider his opportunity to make the game 3-0.

Chances by Connor Dougherty, Evan Martone and Will Tiftickjian were stopped by the beleaguered Delaware goalkeeper, who saw little support from his teammates.

Miller got his first of two goals after Mike Zimmerman's pass from the far sideline gave him the wide-open 20-yard blast with seven minutes left in the half. His second goal came less than two minutes later after Curtis Snyder and Ben Roesser made the Delaware team pay for a weak pass. Miller's shot sent the goalkeeper sprawling to his right, but the hard shot was already comfortably in the back of the net for the 5-0 halftime lead.

The second half saw the United with a number of chances to increase the lead. Zimmerman and Buell both had opportunities to net their first of the season, only to see the opponent's goalkeeper make several valiant efforts to thwart them.

Captain Jordan Bookbinder, who played hard and fast against his much bigger marks, continued to provide opportunities for teammates such as Dan Stelly and Jeff Miller. However, the second half was destined to have no highlight reel goals and the United prevailed.