Kids knock off Easton, Liberty
The Northampton boys soccer team knew that Easton was beginning to show improvements from last year when they met up last Wednesday afternoon at Wolf Field.
Easton missed out on the LVC playoffs for the first time in a long time in 2012, and that surely left a bad taste in their mouths over the offseason.
In 2013, the Red Rovers are in better position to earn their ticket back into the league playoffs, though. But, Northampton would also like to return to the league playoffs and they brought a six-game winning streak into this contest. The Kids put themselves in better position to accomplish their league playoff goals with the 2-1 victory.
Right from the get go, Northampton controlled the ball and worked it around the field. At the 16:00 mark of the first half, the Kids struck first. Tim Kelly brought the ball up the right wing and played a perfectly placed cross inside the box that was athletically struck by Sam Gaye for his 11th goal of the year. The highlight even made the 10 p.m. news on WFMZ sports report.
The packed stands full of fans and students would be kept sitting on the edge of their seats all the way until the end in this game. Easton would tie the contest at 1-1 with just 6:53 to play when Lucas Lampertti finished a ball near post from a zig-zag pass connection from teammate Santiago Ramirez.
As has been the case all year long, Northampton did not give in and instead went right back to work. Just 1:52 later, Gaye would score his second goal of the day off a well-placed corner kick from AJ Schroettner that went upper 90 to give the Kids a 2-1 lead and eventually the win.
"We played hard and got the win but we must keep reminding ourselves we still havent won anything yet and its all one game at a time," said Coach Craig Carvin after the game. "We have a good Liberty team coming up before we play Emmaus next week. We can't get caught looking ahead."
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On a brisk Saturday morning at Andrew S. Leh stadium in Nazareth, Northampton would scratch and claw its way to a 2-0 win over Liberty in the Don Hunt Memorial Classic game.
Sam Gaye would score his 13th goal of the season on a redirected shot past keeper Kenan Meral early in the second half. Julian Santos played the direct ball that landed in the box, and as he's done all season long, Gaye finished.
Tim Kelly would get the second and final goal of the day. He atoned for an earlier miss on a breakaway, but Meral made a great play out early to mess up Kelly's timing that led to the missed shot.
With the win Northampton is now 11-2 overall and 9-1 in the league.
They play a huge game Tuesday night at Emmaus under the lights. Whitehall comes to Wolf Field next Thursday.








