Pickin' Splinters

Rochester's Independent Sports Source

Key moments: Olympia takes rematch with Batavia

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By PAUL GOTHAM

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — When Rob DuPrau discusses the the events that can impact the outcome of a game, the 12th-year Greece Olympia boys’ soccer coach points to those times when momentum can shift or emotions play a factor.

On Wednesday night, DuPrau’s Spartans stood tall in those instances.

Philipp Biermann led four scorers with two goals as Olympia defeated Batavia, 5-1 in Monroe County Division IV action.

“I’m proud of the boys with the effort they gave,” DuPrau said.

Biermann started the scoring less than 14 minutes into the match. Ten minutes later, Mohamed Mohamed found the back of the net. William Buttino made it a 3-nil game with 8:01 remaining in the first half.

Having defeated Batavia 7-0 earlier in the season, the opportunity was there for Olympia to overlook its opponent.

“Batavia plays hard every time you face them,” DuPrau stated. “I know they’ve battled some injuries, but we always know that they’re going to come out and give us a good contest.”

The Blue Devils responded late in the first half. Minutes after Carter Havens was denied on a shot from the right wing, Nick Grover connected on his team-best 13th tally of the campaign.

For the final five minutes of the first stanza, Batavia took the game to Olympia. The chance was there for the Blue Devils to build upon their success coming out of the break.

“We really try to emphasize key moments of the game – first five, last five of each half,” DuPrau explained. “After goals are scored, those emotional moments in the game. The boys are doing a good job with that.”

Any chance Batavia had to further cut into the deficit was quickly erased.

August Liveng connected on his fourth goal of the season in the first minute coming out of halftime.

“We’ve got some strong personalities on the team who will speak up when they need to,” DuPrau said when asked about his team’s mindset approaching the final 40 minutes of regulation. “We’ve got great leadership in the back, in the front and in the midfield. All around the field, the guys can pick each other up.”

Biermann put the game out of reach with 20:37 left on the clock.

Olympia (9-5-0) came into the contest having lost three of five recent games – all to schools from larger classifications (Brockport Class A, Mendon Class A and Honeoye Falls-Lima Class A) .

“It’s been an up-and-down year,” said DuPrau whose squad currently holds the second seed in Class B1. “I don’t think we’ve played our best soccer yet.”

Foreign-exchange students Biermann (Germany) and Liveng (Norway) have combined for 21 goals and 10 assists.

“We’re lucky,” DuPrau said of the additions to the roster. “From day one, we knew we had some special players. They’ve done a nice job of meshing in with the group.”

Biermann leads Division IV with 17 goals and four assists. He joins Second Team All-County performer William Buttino (11 goals and 8 assists) to give the Spartans a potent attack.

“We felt like we were going to have a strong team this year regardless. We had a lot of guys coming back. The boys who have been here at Olympia put in a lot of work this offseason, playing a lot of futsal, a lot of open soccer in the summer. We thought we were going to be pretty strong. You add two talents (Biermann and Liveng) like that to this group and we’re excited. We’re hoping for some big things come post-season.”

Olympia’s Dylan Mattice made eight saves.

Batavia’s Noah Delcamp stopped 10 shots.

The Blue Devils (6-4-2) host Greece Odyssey on Friday. The two teams tied when they met earlier in the season. A 6 p.m. start time is scheduled.

Olympia hosts Odyssey in a rematch of the Battle for Maiden Lane. The Spartans took the first meeting 3-2.

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