ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Anthony Tudisco almost didn’t take the field in overtime because of a nagging injury. Good thing for the Greece Odyssey Leopards that the senior attacker figured out a way.
Tudisco’s golden goal with 4 minutes and 28 seconds remaining in the first overtime was the difference as Odyssey defeated rival Greece Olympia, 1-0 in Monroe County Division IV action, Tuesday night.
“I’ve been imagining this since the start of the season,” Tudisco said. “It’s a surreal feeling to experience this with my soccer team that I’ve grown up with.”
Tudisco took advantage of a second-chance opportunity and converted on one of the basic tenets of the game.
Anthony Tudisco nets the golden goal with 4:28 remaining in the first overtime. @Odyboyssoccer snaps a seven-game winless streak against rival @Spartan_Soccer with a 1-nil victory. pic.twitter.com/O4e9qYHfcL
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) October 12, 2022
“Always crash the net,” he said of the play. “That’s a big thing that our coaches have taught us.
“(Teammate) Alex Cardinal, he has a hard shot. Every single time he shoots it, I know the goalkeeper is going to bobble it. He shot it. I was right in position. I was the closest guy. I had already started my run because I knew it was going to get bobbled. I saw it there and just finished it. I went in hard because that was what we needed.”
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The victory ended a seven-game (0-6-1) winless streak against Olympia that dated back to 2019.
“Finally winning against them, it just puts into perspective how hard-working our team is and the spirit that we show the whole time.”
Olympia took a 5-1 decision when the two teams separated by less than a mile along Maiden Lane met earlier this season.
“They really showed up and showed us that we had to work hard if we wanted to win. There’s nothing more to it. We had to put in the work.”
The game-winning play started when Mason Baker chased down a clearing attempt along the left wing and found Jason Clohessy with a ball back. Clohessy, in turn, led Cardinal who used his first touch to put a shot on net from just outside the 18-yard box.
“With the atmosphere and everything like that, it’s an unreal feeling to execute that,” Tudisco said. “It’s just huge. That’s what our coaches have drilled into us. We work until the goalkeeper has it or the whistle blows.”
A hip injury that has lingered since preseason almost prevented Tudisco from playing in overtime.
“He came out the last 10 minutes of the second half and was like ‘coach I don’t think I can make runs, but I can play high midfield and control and distribute,'” Odyssey head coach Scott Mikulski said. “We were all set at midfield, so it was either play forward or don’t play. I asked him to try it for a few minutes.”
Tudisco had scored just one goal in Odyssey’s previous nine games. The senior hadn’t scored against a league opponent since September 7th – a stretch of six games.
“I told him after the game ‘what if I had put you back at midfield,'” Mikulski said laughing. “He wasn’t thinking about the injury at that point.
“It was nice to see him finally put one away. Going into sectionals that will be good for him. The rebound was there, and we have been talking that we got to crash the net. We had opportunities earlier in the game…For him, to finally come through and score that goal was great.”
That the game went to overtime was the result of a Jonny Nguyen save late in regulation. The Odyssey keeper, who made 12 saves in the game, stopped a point blank attempt from Olympia’s Mohamed Mohamed.
Massive save by Jonny Nguyen with less than 10 seconds remaining to send us to overtime: @Spartan_Soccer 0 @Odyboyssoccer 0 pic.twitter.com/LQ3ErVoSUK
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) October 11, 2022
The win was the second straight 1-nil decision for Odyssey (7-6-2) which has managed just five goals in the past six games.
“It’s been so tough scoring goals this year,” Mikulski acknowledged. “I thought we moved the ball pretty well, but we just can’t score.”
Odyssey closes the regular season at Pittsford Sutherland on Thursday.
Olympia (9-6-0) had previously clinched the divisional title. The Spartans finish up at home against Irondequoit on Friday.
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