Amereno, Tamburello lead Commack past Brentwood
Commack's Matt Tamburello and Brentwood's Marvin Chinchilla battle for control of the ball during Commack's 1-0 win. Tamburello scored the only goal. (Sept. 21, 2010) Credit: Frank Koester
Jake Amereno spent most of the second half with his left hand shielding his face. The Commack junior goalkeeper was trying to see the ball through a strong sun that was directly in his eyes Tuesday.
"The sun was pretty strong on the high balls," he said. "It wasn't as much of a factor on the low ones."
Fortunately for Amereno, most of the shots Brentwood took in the final 18 minutes sailed high. When one of the shots was directly on net, Amereno made a terrific diving save to his left, hitting the ball off his hands on a 25-yard blast from Frank Guzman with 4:17 left in the game.
It was one of eight saves for Amereno in a 1-0 win over visiting Brentwood in a Suffolk League I boys soccer game.
"We expect that of him," Commack junior Matt Tamburello said. "He comes up big all the time and you saw it there."
Said Amereno: "He took a quick shot and I was able to make the save. It's a good win, but it's just one league game."
Commack (3-0, 1-0), the defending league champion, ended Brentwood's 78-game league unbeaten streak last season, but Brentwood (2-1, 0-1) beat Commack in the semifinals en route to winning the Class AA county championship.
"We might have won League I last year," Commack coach Pat Friel said, "but they beat us in the playoffs on our home field. We had a game plan to attack and it worked."
Commack got the lone goal when Max Aronica threaded a pass to Tamburello, who scored 2:52 into the second half.
"There was space and I saw it developing," Tamburello said. "I ran into the gap and he saw me. We have a connection, he found me, and chipped it my way."
Commack played very physically and was all over the ball. Every time it appeared that the Indians might set something up, Commack defenders were quick to get to a man.
"We're not really physical," Friel said. "Our game is like them. We like to use our feet and talent. Overall, the physicalness came with the pure effort level."
Brentwood coach Ron Eden wasn't pleased with the effort of his team. Brentwood, which has played in four of the last five state finals, graduated 16 players, but returned 15.
"We didn't come to play, and Commack deserved it," Eden said. "This is the worst I have seen a Brentwood team play by far. I'm not taking anything away from Commack. They made us play bad.
"For some of these guys, it's their first year on varsity and they need to get used to the physicality. They pressured every ball. Every time you touch the ball, they were hitting you. They deserved to win the game. Maybe we're not as good as we think we are."
