Rebels Place 3rd and 5th in Syracuse 7s Tournament

The James Connolly Albany Rebels earned their first wins of the season as they split the squad into two teams for a day of football at the annual Syracuse 7s Tournament on Saturday in Liverpool, N.Y. The Albany teams combined for a 3-3 record.

Albany 1, playing in white jerseys, went 2-1 and finished in third place. Albany defeated Hartford for the first time when Cillian Flavin took a shot from 30 meters out that dropped in over the keeper’s outstretched hands just seconds before the final whistle. They also won against Syracuse 2-4, 1-1, but a one-point loss to Montreal 2 kept Albany 1 out of the tournament final.

“Albany 1 performed very well and came within a point of beating Montreal, losing out to a last gasp free kick,” Flavin said. “Had we converted one of our many opportunities in the second half we would have won the game. The lesson is that we need to be more clinical in attack, something we have been working on as was evidenced in the victories our teams had today.”

Albany 2, wearing the club’s red alternates, had a 1-2 record for 5th place in the 7-team tournament. They lost to eventual tournament champion Ottawa as well as the runner-up Montreal 1, but responded with a strong 5-3, 0-2 win against Syracuse in their final game of the day.

“Albany 2 performed admirably given their difficult draw,” Flavin said. “There was much to be proud of in terms of team cohesion and passing movement.”