The Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks stopped the Pine Bush Bushmen’s top offensive threat on Wednesday night, stymying the Bushmen’s offense, handing them a 3-0 loss on Wednesday night at Academy Field in Newburgh.
“We held it together defensively for most of the game,” Pine Bush coach Marc Gittleman said. “Our offense struggled today. We were moving the ball side to side in the middle third, but we didn’t have anything moving forward to get shots on goal.”
The Bushmen had limited opportunities to score as the Goldbacks worked to neutralize Bushmen midfielder Michael Dempsey, who had few, if any opportunities to score.
“He’s put up enough offense going into this game that people know he’s a talent and one of our most skilled players,” Gittleman said. “They clearly tried to take him out of the game, and I think they were rather successful at it. We have to have other ways to get the ball into the back of the net.”

The Goldbacks, meanwhile found the back of the net once in the first half and twice in the second. They got on the board about 15 minutes into the game when Javier Rodriguez used his speed to get by the Pine Bush defense and in the one-on-one match, Pine Bush goalkeeper Jack Bisaillon didn’t have a chance to block it.
Rodriguez added his second goal in the 57th minute when he traveled down the field coming up on the right post, again beating the Bushmen’s defense. Once he got into the penalty box, he fired the ball past Bisaillon and into the net for a 2-0 lead.
“He’s fast getting on the ball and he’s fast moving with the ball,” Gittleman said. “He was able to face forward, he’s going to win a lot of footraces like that. We were trying to clog that space and try to make it difficult for him to touch the ball, and just keep him in front of us as best we could.”
The Goldbacks made it 3-0 in the game’s final minutes as Erick Alvarez blasted a goal from about 30 yards away. Like Rodriguez’s two goals, there was little Bisaillon could do about it. He finished the game with 11 saves.
“Those goals aren’t on the goalkeeper in that situation,” Gittleman said. “He made so many other saves through the course of the game. He’s done the best he can. A lot of times, it’s just one misplayed ball here or a mistouch here and they’re turning on you.”
The Bushmen (4-2-1) are scheduled to finish the regular season this week with a road game at Valley Central and a home game against Washingtonville.
“That’s the top of the class right now,” Gittleman said. “We have to be able to play at their level. We have to take away what we did well from this game and learn from the things that we didn’t have. We do have offense. We know we can score, but it wasn’t there today. What can we do to change and make sure everything’s jiving has we head into the end of the regular season and into the postseason.”