THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604180483
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
A big hit often can be all it takes to lift a baseball team to victory.
Sometimes a soccer team can use the same punch.
Maury's Aaron Ambrose knows about both.
Ambrose, a pitcher/shortstop when he plays baseball, sparked the Commodores to a 4-1 victory over rival Granby in his first varsity soccer game Wednesday at the old Norfolk Catholic field.
The senior broke a 1-1 tie late in the second half when he took a pass from Park Consaul and blasted a shot from the right side that easily beat Granby keeper Philip Shea. Consaul had taken a half-field throw from keeper Ben Inman.
``Coach put it to us to come out and play our game in the second half,'' Ambrose said. ``We controlled things in the second half, but we didn't get any real chances until late.''
Ambrose started a play minutes later that provided some insurance when he passed to a falling Charles Read, who still managed to boot the ball to Sean Toland. Toland beat Shea from the left side with a blast to the opposite post.
Ambrose scored again with about a minute left when he lobbed a ball over a charging Shea from about 10 yards out.
Granby had opened the scoring in a sloppy first half with a penalty kick by Joe Tumminelli.
No. 6 Maury was awarded a penalty kick a couple minutes later when Granby was called for a hand ball in the box. Charles Read tied the contest with the kick.
``That first penalty kick they got was a wake-up call for us,'' Ambrose said. ``That's when we knew the game wasn't going to be given to us. We were going to have to go out and earn it.''
Ambrose's first call comes from the baseball team, for which he is one of the top hitters. But he said he will play soccer whenever he can fit it in.
``He scored two goals, but we had to others and we had some fine play from several people,'' said Maury coach Mohsin Bouziane, whose team took control of the Eastern District by moving to 4-0, 5-3-2 overall. ``Rob Secrest was our player of the game back on defense. We scored four goals, but he stopped many more.''
Granby (2-1, 2-4-1) got off seven shots in the second half, and three of them forced Inman to make stops.
``We had some chances,'' Comets coach Mike Kennedy said. ``But that first goal . . .'' by CNB