By PAUL GOTHAM
Fairport coach Gianni Bussani knows a thing or two about competing for state titles, and the 22nd-year coach who has taken squads to three of the last four Class AA state finals says there is something special about his current squad.
Words his local rivals probably don’t want to hear.
“I can’t say enough,” Bussani commented his team’s effort after Fairport’s 2-0 victory over Greece Athena on a sun-drenched early Saturday afternoon. “We preach work rate and work ethic in training. That is where the rewards are by working hard. We came out after kind of a flat first half where Athena really took it to us. That second half was all us.”
Leading 1-0 at half, Rorie Simpson added an insurance goal in the 80th minute. The sophomore attacker took advantage of an Athena giveaway in its defensive end, cut against the grain along the left flank and flicked a shot into the opposite side netting.
The tally was overdue.
“We should have had one earlier in the half,” Bussani noted. “We dominated the middle of the field which Athena did in the first half. We turned the tide and I thought we certainly deserved this win.”
Tanner Crisafulli notched his first goal of the season in the 18th minute out of a scrum in front of the net to give Fairport the early edge.
The Red Raiders, though, went into attack mode from the start of the second stanza.
Bobby Guilfoil nicked the post in the 45th minute. Less than a minute later Athena keeper Michael Monti made a diving stop on a Lucas Simpson attempt. Simpson then made a rush along the right flank and his cross slipped through the area untouched.
Moments after that, it appeared Simpson had beaten Monti on a break as the senior attacker flicked the ball past the sprawling net minder, but Trojan defender Ryan Burns made a sliding stop before the ball crossed the goal line.
“They’re a really good team,” Athena head coach Mike Butler said of the Red Raiders. “Those games are going to help you to get ready for sectionals.”
Fairport senior goalkeeper John Flannery recorded his third straight shutout, and the Red Raiders improved to 6-1-0 on the season. He was at his best with a pair of stops late in the game.
“He came out with two huge saves for us,” Bussani stated. “That’s a testament to his mental focus and his work rate.”
The tie caps a week for Athena, winners of three straight Section V Class A1 titles, where the Trojans finished 0-1-2. Athena (4-1-2) opened the week with a scoreless draw against undefeated Brockport (6-0-1) before playing to a 2-2 tie with Pittsford Sutherland (2-4-1).
“It’s been a battle of a week,” Butler stated. “I’m not overly disappointed because I know it’s part of the process. I thought for the most part we did good things and we played good teams.
“Today we had a lot of the play. They had a lot of the play. It was all around. We had plenty of things going. We gotta get better in that last third in terms of finding ways to crack things through because we have a lot of goal scorers, and we’ve been struggling to score goals.”
“I’m glad we won’t see them in sectionals,” Bussani said of his Class A1 opponent. “They’re very well-balanced. They might have had a goal or two and we might be out of here with a 2-1 loss, but our goalie came up big.”
Fairport plays at Webster Schroeder on Monday.
Athena gets some time off before playing at Hilton next Saturday night.
Great game by both teams. Fairport’s goalie was exceptional, easily the best we’ve seen this year. We had our chances but the Fairport midfield is really talented especially #2, #6 and #8. Tough week but we will bounce back. #athenastrong!