Brentwood boys soccer's fourth state championship a total team effort
Brentwood celebrate its victory over Fairport in the NYSPHSAA Class AA boys soccer championship in Middletown, N.Y., on Sunday. Credit: Allyse Pulliam /ALLYSE PULLIAM
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — One of the defining features of Brentwood’s unbeaten season has been its depth and on Sunday morning, every bit of that depth was on display.
Alex Garcia, Juan Gomez, Sergio Ventura and Brandon Yanez scored to lead Brentwood boys soccer to a 4-0 win over Fairport in the Class AA state championship at Middletown High School. Every player on Brentwood’s roster saw action as the Indians won their fourth state championship and first since 2010.
“This is my 40th year and I always dreamed that I could get every single kid on the roster into a state final and we got it done,” coach Ron Eden said. “It’s a tribute to the guys. At halftime, I said I want everybody in this room to play today and it’s up to the starters to make it happen. They did.”
As Yanez and Garcia said, the starters were more than happy to oblige.
“Every one of them deserves it,” Yanez said. “Everybody works hard in practice and they support us on the bench. It feels incredible because everybody played their part.”
Said Garcia: “We were able to put the game away so they could get in and I’m so happy for all of them. It felt great to see them play.”
As was the case in its 1-0 semifinal win over Ossining Saturday, Brentwood (22-0) dominated the first half, pinning Fairport deep in its own territory for much of the period. The difference in the final was that the Indians translated this edge in game control into goals.
“We just played beautiful soccer,” said Garcia, whose goal off a corner kick in the 16th minute opened the scoring. “We were moving the ball and you could see the skill on our team.”
Garcia has anchored the Brentwood defense, which put in its latest lockdown performance, holding Fairport (14-5-2) to a single shot on goal (a 45th-minute free kick that was stopped by Anthony Molina).
At the other end of the field, Gomez doubled the lead with a goal from distance with five minutes remaining in the first half and the goals kept coming in the second.
In the 44th minute, Ventura scored from the edge of the six-yard box before Yanez punctuated the victory with a highlight-reel goal seven minutes later.
After Fairport failed to clear the ball outside the penalty area, the ball fell to Yanez, who blasted a shot from 25 yards out into the top corner.
“The rebound came to me, I feel like I hit it cleanly and everything after that was crazy,” Yanez said. “It’s definitely my favorite goal I’ve ever scored.”
That strike effectively sealed the win, returning Brentwood to the top of the state.
Said Garcia: “You can’t describe how it feels. Not only are we state champs but we’re undefeated state champs. We put Brentwood back on the map!”
