Ursuline falls in Panera Bread Soccer Classic

Quattro, Fusillo play

well despite defeat

in Panera Classic

By CURTIS PULLIAM

cpulliam@vindy.com

warren

Gianni Quattro and Mark Fusillo, both junior strikers on Ursuline’s varsity boy soccer team, know the importance of preseason preparation.

Both looked in mid-season form at the fifth annual Panera Bread High School Soccer Classic at Warren JFK high school.

Quattro had both goals and Fusillo both assists in a 3-2 loss to Warren Blue, a team from Vincent, Ohio, on Paul Esposito Memorial Field.

“It’s a special opportunity,” Quattro said. “It lets us get work before our regular season. It’s great preparation.”

Ursuline varsity head coach Roy Schmidt, who coaches both boys and girls soccer, believes the event is helpful for his teams

“This is our preseason basically,” said Schmidt, who is in his fourth year at Ursuline. “As of August 1, you get into all the mandatory training, you want to make sure you get a chance to see how the kids are doing, who’s going to fit into what positions.”

Playing with no substitutions, Quattro struck first early to put the Ursuline Gold squad ahead 1-0. Quattro received a pass from Fusillo on the left side of the field. The ball bounced off of the defender and onto the foot of Quattro.

“The great through balls from him [Fusillo],” Quattro said when asked what worked well offensively. “Just the passing and perfect hitting, just overall a great play.”

Shortly after Warren Blue scored to tie the game at 1-1, Quattro added his second goal. Fusillo hit him right on the foot with another cross to give Ursuline a 2-1 lead.

Fusillo said he was not surprised by the result of the play.

“I didn’t have to look to see if he was there,” Fusillo said. “I already knew he was there. That’s just how we work. That’s our chemistry.”

Ursuline gave up a penalty kick to tie the game and the game-winning goal was scored on a deflection off a kick by an Irish defender.

“Frustration,” Fusillo said about the last goal. “Just all [that] hard work and [then you] have something like that slip through your fingers.”

Quattro and Fusillo have played in the Panera event before and take pride in participating.

“Just setting a good example for Ursuline, and showing that we can play,” Quattro said. “And [having] great sportsmanship.”

Schmidt said Fusillo did a great job of finding Quattro in the box.

“He just happened to be a recipient today,” Schmidt said of Quattro. “A lot of times those goals, it’s not necessarily the goal scorers. It’s that person that finds them. To me, you get two points for an assist and one point for a goal.”

The Panera Classic is a tournament in which teams compete in group play and an elimination round. Play continues today at Warren JFK.