By PAUL GOTHAM
On the surface, the corner kick appeared to have little impact on the outcome of Tuesday night’s non-league match between the Batavia/Alexander Blue Devils and the Aquinas Li’l Irish. It was a restart from the left flag that lofted into the six-yard box and settled comfortably into the hands of Aquinas goalkeeper Kyle Pero.
The comment from one of Pero’s teammates on the field said it all: “Welcome back Kyle.”
Four games spent recovering from an injury, Pero returned to the lineup to start the second half. It’s no coincidence that Li’l Irish found their rhythm soon after that.
“It’s good to have him back,” Aquinas coach Josh Gleason said. “Everyone’s body language changed. He goes into the game. He catches it. It’s automatic.”
Twelve minutes later, Josiah Fragnito went near post from just inside the 18-yard box, and the rout was on. The Li’l Irish tallied four times in the second half to snap a three-game winless streak with a 5-0 victory.
“I know this team can play that way, so it feels good when they do,” Gleason stated. “They got to consistently do that. We need to act like we’ve been there. We need to act like that is what they expectation is when we play a team that we think we can get up on.”
Fragnito found the back of the net again less than six minutes later and assisted on two more goals in a dominant second-half performance.
“We got to play like that all the time,” Gleason added. “We don’t always do that. It shouldn’t be a surprise to us that we have that ability.”
With Pero back between the pipes, finding that consistency might be more of a reality. Aquinas started the season 4-2. They beat Canisius for the first time in program history. Their losses came to Livonia, then ranked No. 1 NYS Class B and Brighton currently ranked No. 3 NYS Class A.
With Pero out of the lineup, AQ went 1-3-1. They looked overmatched in a 6-0 loss to Greece Arcadia and in their most recent contest, the Li’l Irish fell behind 5-0 at half to Brockport (No. 10 NYS Class A) before losing 7-2.
It was against Brockport, Gleason said, the squad may have started to turn the corner.
Fragnito scored twice in the second half and rung a third shot off the crossbar. Senior Michael Theodoru also found his role and that was evident Tuesday night at Wegmans Stadium.
“Mike Theo is getting way up into the offense,” Gleason explained. “We discovered that he is a good at getting into the attack from left back spot. He’s a smart player. Now we have the ability to build out of the back.”
With Theodoru stretching Batavia/Alexander’s backline, Fragnito exploited seams in the middle third of the pitch.
“There is no doubt about it; they can play,” Gleason reiterated. “They got to believe in themselves as much as I believe in them.
“If we can win a few more of these games and inch our way up to that third seed, we could get some confidence going into the sectionals.”
Brian Howse gave Aquinas a 1-nil lead in the 18th minute when he took advantage of a rebound off a Fragnito attempt.
After missing several opportunities to put the game out of reach in the first half, Fragnito finished the game with two goals and three assists.
He made a rush to the end line and set up Sammy Sherzi with a left-footed cross in the 71st minute. Two minutes later, the senior attacker fed Jon Arieno for the final margin of victory.
Fragnito leads AQ (6-5-1) with 14 goals and five assists on the season.
“At halftime I said, ‘you got to stay composed and you got to believe you’re going to make the shots.’
“I’m happy him. His numbers are great.”
Pero was injured during AQ’s loss to McQuaid on September 16th. The junior was cleared to play earlier in the day on Tuesday. The Jesuit Knights are currently ranked No. 1 NYS Class AA.
Aquinas plays at St. Francis (VI) Friday night.
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