Soccer Teams Earn Another Victory for JCU: Go Gladiators!
The JCU Gladiators
On Wednesday, November 6th both the men’s and women’s soccer teams of John Cabot University played with skill, passion, and tenacity to beat strong rival teams.
The men’s soccer team headed to the Tor di Quinto neighborhood to play tournament powerhouses Luiss, which started the game off strong and hungry for a win. However, solid and tenacious defending by the four backs, Joe Mueller, Othmane Slimani, Alfonso Lopez and Rron Kurtolli, as well as a couple of saves from keeper Alfredo Verrina kept the game 0-0.
The second half is where the Gladiators started to create more threats for Luiss’ goalkeeper and defense. Captain Sergio Romano, who, despite having a defender on his back and a keeper bearing down on him, was able to put the ball neatly under the crossbar ending the deadlock and giving the Gladiators the lead. With Romano’s goal the Gladiators started to hit their stride and play with more confidence. 10 minutes later, Striker Alfonso Salvatore (Poncho) took a long ball from the defense, dribbled past a defender, and was able to capitalize on the subsequent breakaway, doubling the Gladiator’s lead to 2-0. In the last 10 minutes of the game, the team played together, defending their lead tenaciously, stifling all loose balls. Keeper Alfredo Verrina did his part taking to the air to snatch dangerous crosses and made a few saves of his own. Finally the final whistle blew and the John Cabot Gladiators earned their second consecutive win, confirming their place at the head of the league table.
At the same time, the Lady Gladiators also played an astonishing game. After 1’30” Captain Stefani Scaletti scored the first goal with a diagonal shoot from the right. Soon afterward Maria Martynovych and again Stefani Scaletti scored two fantastic goals. The first half finished with the JCU girls leading by 4 goals! The cherry on cake was Jacqueline Staiano’s perfect free kick, with the ball curling over the barrier and going in the exact corner of the goal. At the end of the game, the girls won 7 to 1! According to Coach Paolo, “the game showed the real spirit of all the girls, today everyone was perfect.”
Lean more about Athletics at John Cabot University in Rome!
