Brendan Fragale leads Ardrey Kell boys’ soccer past Palisades in key conference match

The Ardrey Kell Knights boys’ soccer team took another step towards its third consecutive conference title Tuesday night, knocking off the host Palisades Pumas.

Led by a hat trick from senior striker Brendan Fragale, the Knights cruised to a 5-1 victory.

“We love playing Palisades,” Ardrey Kell coach Adam Henry said. “They’re fantastic opponents, a lot of our guys played club together, so there’s some competition from that stepping in. Overall, our guys came in with a business mentality, and our main focus was to just get the job done.”

That business mentality was evident from the start, as Ardrey Kell came out fast. The Knights’ attack broke through just seven minutes in, and Fragale collected his first of three goals for the night.

Five minutes later, senior Matthew Yohrling found the back of the net to make put the Knights up 2-0. Following the opening blows, the Pumas’ defense appeared to find its footing for a bit, and even drew within one goal late in the half.

That, however, would be as close as Palisades would get as Fragale quickly picked up his second goal of the night. Coming out of the half, the Knights continued to apply pressure and added two more goals, the last of which secured Fragale his hat trick.

“It felt great,” Fragale said of his play. “It always feels good to score, and it was a hat trick ... so yeah.”

Henry, Ardrey Kell’s coach, said the team had been aiming to open up some more scoring chances for Fragale.

“He’s kind of been trying to unlock some more of his goal-scoring opportunities,.” Henry said. “He’s been one of our better goal scorers ... (but) he just hasn’t found many opportunities to put shots on goal.”

Henry also praised his team’s overall play.

“The team effort was great,” the Knights’ coach said. “Whether it was just working off the ball, or even just in communication when balls were coming in up top. The boys were doing a really good job off the ball communicating that they wanted those runs.”

When asked about expectations for his team, Henry made it clear the Knights are gunning for another conference title.

“Our first goal is to maintain that conference championship,” he said. “We’re trying to ... do it outright. That’s something that hasn’t been done in the history of this conference. ... After that, it’s about making a run at state.”

Three who made a difference

Brenden Fragale, Ardrey Kell: The senior striker led the way on offense for the Knights, recording a hat trick and assisting on one goal.

Matthew Kulyak, Ardrey Kell: Kulyak scored the Knights’ first goal of the second half, effectively putting the game out of reach, and also made several key passes into the box.

DeAngelo Lopez, Palisades: Lopez did his best to make the game competitive, and scored the Pumas’ only goal.

What’s next

Palisades travels to Berry at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Ardrey Kell hosts Ballantyne Ridge at 7 p.m. on Oct. 15.

Scoring summary

Ardrey Kell 3 2 – 5

Palisades 1 0 – 1

First half

(AK) – Brendan Fragale

(AK) – Matthew Yohrling

(P) – DeAngelo Lopez

(AK) – Fragale

Second half

(AK) – Matthew Kulyak

(AK) – Fragale