Nolan Stava draws a lot of comparisons between hockey and soccer.
Mainly the fact that he likes to play centre in both and the forward is quite adept at scoring, in the summer at least.
Stava had two goals in his SeaSport Outboard Marina team's debut versus 3rd. Ave. Car Wash.
SeaSport cruised to a 5-3 win, and had the majority of the pressure during the match, but 3rd. Ave. was not to be outmatched.
No. 9, Ferryn Collins, notched two goals of his own in response to SeaSport's attack and even assisted on the team's third goal, scored by a friend and fellow linemate.
Stava got things going early when he potted one past 3rd. Ave.'s goalkeeper when he found himself streaking down right-centre and, just past the centre circle, blasted a shot that was too hot for the keeper to handle, and it rolled past the goal line.
"I just kind of came down and shot it," said Stava.
"It hit the goalie's gloves and went in."
Third. Ave's defence did an excellent job communicating defensive zone strategies, such as clearing the ball up the side instead of the middle, typically dangerous.
After taking a 2-0 lead, Collins cut into it with a breakaway scoring attempt that hit the mark, low and past the goalie's outstretched legs, to cut the lead in half for 3rd. Ave.
"I just came down and shot it and it went in," said Collins, echoing Stava's carbon copy goal from the first half.
Three more goals would see SeaSport take a commanding 5-1 lead on the pace of outstanding pressure by the forwards and midfielders and the support they gave each other for passing options.
But 3rd Ave. wouldn't go down quietly as Farryn notched his second of the game and then, soon after made a deft touch to his winger, who closed out the scoring for the greenshirts to finalize the score at 5-3.
Both teams made progress on their corner-kick abilities. They got more accurate as the match progressed, with some bending to potent areas of the goal area.