MERIDEN — The Platt Panthers boys soccer team kicked off its 2022 season with a 10-0 loss to the Plainville Blue Devils on Thursday.
Nikolas Penta and Trevor Rav were the stars of the game for the Blue Devils. Rav scored four goals and Penta scored three.
Despite the loss, Platt head coach Martin Cheney is excited that the season began. It’s his second with the Panthers.
“We’re super-excited,” said Cheney. “We lost a lot of seniors last year, we only have two returning seniors and we’re a rebuilding team this year. We’re looking to fill some spots we lost.
“We have a lot of new guys; we have a new goalie. So, right now, we’re rebuilding.”
It didn’t take long for the Blue Devils to get on the scoreboard. Penta pocketed his first goal of the game just 1:30 in.
Penta actually attempted and made a goal in the first 30 seconds of play, but it was negated by to an offsides penalty.
Penta scored his second goal nearly eight minutes later. A nice pass set up by Rav gave Penta a ton of open space in the middle of the field and he let off a laser of a kick that put Plainville up 2-0.
One minute later, Rav extended the lead to 3-0. After a steal on defense, Rav got a nice set up in the middle of the field and, like Penta’s second goal, he had a clear path on net. Rev kicked a beam that went in and gave Plainville a comfortable lead early on.
In the 17th minute of play, Rav almost notched his second goal with another blast of a kick from midfield, but the ball hit both poles and Platt’s goalie Gabriell Dushi secured the save.
In the 25th minute, Plainville went up 4-0. Junior Jamison McGinnis dished out an assist to senior Mike Oullette.
Before the first half concluded, Rav scored his second goal and put Plainville up 5-0 with a nice corner shot from the right side of the field.
Platt had an opportunity to score with a minute left in the half as Plainville’s goalie went for a save and missed the ball. Marlon Tazambay seemed to have a shot lined up for the Panthers, but couldn’t get to the ball before it rolled out of bounds.
Plainville piled up 28 first-half shots and Dushi responded with 16 saves.
Platt only attempted a few shots in the first-half.
Like the first half, it didn’t take Plainville long to get on the board after the break. In the fourth minute, Penta punched in his third goal, assisted by Rav.
As Rav passed to Penta, Dushi went to go for the save, but Penta moved to the left, beating him out and scoring an easy goal with no pressure.
Two minutes later, junior Zarrell David got tripped as he was advancing on net. It resulted in a penalty kick and David capitalized.
From there, Rav scored twice more and sophomore Brady Wieczorek added a goal in the 71st minute to cap the CCC South victory.
Despite Thursday’s 10-0 final, Cheney complimented his team on never giving up and staying resilient.
“That’s the one thing we respect above all else here is that we don’t give up no matter the score, no matter what happens in the game,” Cheney said.