Matt Iorlano has been the coach of the Newburgh Free Academy boys’ soccer team for nearly three decades.
He doesn’t believe any of his teams had ever given up a goal 19 seconds into the game. But that’s exactly what happened on Saturday afternoon as the Washingtonville Wizards scored early on their way to a 2-1 win over the Goldbacks at Academy Field at NFA’s Main Campus.

The goal came off the foot of Max Mobray and immediately put the Goldbacks on their heels.

“That set the tone for the first half,” Iorlano said. “But we made a couple adjustments at halftime, and we came out and I thought we played a much better, more competitive second half. We had our opportunities.

They had opportunities, as well. That’s a good team and they’re 90 percent seniors and the physical size wore on us. In two years, we’ll be like that.”

The Wizards tacked on a second goal in the 49th minute on a score by Austin Mobray, giving the Wizards a 2-0 lead.

That seemed to be the score that woke the Goldbacks, as a minute later, Larry Robinson dropped a direct kick just over the head of Washingtonville goalkeeper Gavin Dueck to cut the lead to 2-1.

“Too bad it took the second goal to get it going, but then, of course, once we scored, that changed everything,” Iorlano said. “It’s amazing how a goal can change the attitude of the team on the field.”
From that point, the Goldbacks were able to sustain more attacks inside the Wizards’ defensive third.

However, despite getting the ball down the field, they were unable to get good shots.

Nick Thomaz had a corner kick opportunity with about 9 minutes to go in the game, but his kick went high and the Goldbacks were unable to turn it into scoring opportunities.

Dueck only needed to make one save for the Wizards and Giovani Sanchez made five saves for Newburgh.

“Take away the first 19 seconds of the game, and the game is even,” Iorlano said. “But those 19 seconds count, just like the last 19 seconds. I knew it was going to be a tough one. They’re a quality team and we’ve just got to get better. We’ve got to mentally mature a little bit, and that’s what’s coming along, slowly but surely.”

The road has been difficult for the Goldbacks of late after they got off to a hot start.

They won their first six games, ending with their 2-0 win over the Middletown Middies on Sept. 18, but since then have tied Albany, and then lost three out of four games.

Their only win in that span was a 3-1 victory over the Pine Bush Bushmen on Oct. 1, their fourth Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I victory, which clinched them a berth in the Section 9 Class AAA tournament.

The Goldbacks will finish the regular season with non-league games against the Beacon Bulldogs and Arlington Admirals and a league game against the Middies before finishing with the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders on Oct. 16.

“There isn’t a ‘gimme’ there,” Iorlano said. “The ‘gimmes’ are gone. We’ve got a tough route in the next for four or five games and it’s going to be tough, and we just have to get better every day in practice. We have to get better every day we’re on the field.”