Match Report: Staples vs. Trinity Catholic

Staples and Trinity Catholic play on 2 of the only grass fields in the FCIAC. (Fairfield Warde, New Canaan and Trumbull are the others — though they also use football turf.)

But with the Crusaders’ field under construction, they opted to play the regular season opener at Loeffler Field.

The high grass in Westport did not hamper the Wreckers’ ball movement. They possessed for long periods of time, used width and switched fields.

After skying 2 shots in the 1st 3 minutes, the hosts went to work. Will Birch — who netted a fine goal in the preseason match against Martin Luther King — sniped his team’s 1st goal of the season in the 9th minute. He settled a pass from Thomas Nealon, then fired.

A minute later keeper Luis Benitez tipped Teddy Lawrence’s blast over the top.

Two minutes after that, Sam Kantor overlapped and hit Nealon. The senior — who for the past 3 years played for the Development Academy, not Staples — dribbled calmly through the box, then made it 2-0.

Josh Berman headed Anton Mahr’s cross high, but Spencer Daniels struck gold with a low, hard finish after his alert positioning helped him win a ball in dangerous territory.

Daniels fed Mahr 6 minutes before halftime, for the 4th goal.

Early in the 2nd half Timmy Liles’s crossfield pass found Shane Dasbach. His great shot was cleared for a corner kick. Danny Jersey headed wide.

Liles soon sent another fine cross into the box. Rory Steele ran on, and finished.

Half a minute later, Griffin O’Neill raced up the left side, and hit Liles for the 6th strike.

Jannis Dietze almost tallied with a hard shot, but just missed high.

FCIAC action heats up next week. The Wreckers host Danbury — predicted to be one of the top 3 teams in the league — on Monday (4 p.m.). Two very tough matches follow quickly: Trumbull (home, Wednesday) and Stamford (away, Friday).

“This is exactly what our guys signed up for,” said head coach Dan Woog. “Bring it on!” FINAL SCORE: Staples 6, Trinity Catholic 0. SEASON RECORD: 1-0-0.

QUICK KICKS: Today’s starting lineup included Birch and Stephen Rowland up top; Nealon, Berman, Engler and Tyler Wright at midfield; Kantor, Lawrence, Matteo Broccolo and Chris Martenson in back, and Ry Cohen in goal — that’s 6 seniors, 4 juniors and 1 sophomore….

All 24 healthy varsity players saw action….

The Wreckers led in shots 14-1, and corner kicks 8-0.