Riverside sets up battle for first

The Riverside Stingers beat Kennedy 3-1 in a tightly contested match to remain undefeated through four games this season. Coupled with a 2-2 draw between Herman and North Star, the Stingers are tied for first in Group 1 of the sr. boys soccer division with a 3-0-1 record.

Alex Joseph, Tyus Mariani and Andrew Herrera scored for Riverside with Tamim Bashir assisting on the final two goals for the Stingers. Abdifatah Mohamed Hussen got the lone goal for Kennedy who fell to 0-2-1 on the season.

Monday's win sets up a battle for first place Wednesday at Herman. "I anticipate Herman will be a real challenge for our boys." said Stingers head coach Scott Patriquin whose team scored 16 goals in their first two games but only five since. "We haven't built much chemistry yet and it's gonna take a little while."

He feels part of his team development includes adjusting to the environment. "We've played a lot of games on turf this season and the kids get a little comfortable with perfect bounces, with everything being flawless.

Which could explain the missed opportunities Riverside had on a rough field with open shots in close that were improperly hit and missed the mark or were a fraction of the expected speed making for an easy save. "It's not as easy to play on and you gotta make adjustments so I wanna see how we adjust on Wednesday and that'll be a good challenge for us."

Riverside lost to L'Essor in last year's final and would like to get another crack at a championship. "I like the team. Player for player we're pretty good." Patriquin said.