Dave Giddings is back for his final season as Newburgh’s goalie and after having stopped the competition during the Goldbacks’ 2009 Class AA state title run, it would seem like the senior would be under immense pressure to help deliver a back-to-back title.

The pressure’s there, but Giddings won’t give into it.

“There’s not too much,” he said. “You have to be relaxed to handle it.”

Giddings and his teammates were finishing a late-morning water break during the first week of practice, and three of the defenders, Mark Stellwag, Marco Lopez and Kenny Caraballo, who helped with a 14-game shutout streak last year, are back this season.

Newburgh opened the 2009 season with a 1-0 loss to Minisink and would finish the season 19-1-2. If the opening game loss seemed like a shock to some, the Goldbacks then earned a hard-fought 1-1 tie with Martin Luther King at Academy Field that set the path for their eventual title run.

“That kind of made us,” said Matt Iorlano, Newburgh’s coach. “We (could) play with anybody.”

That goal by Martin Luther King was the last goal given up by Newburgh through the end of the regular season until Arlington scored a pair in the Goldbacks’ 3-2 victory during the regional final. The Goldbacks would head to Oneonta to the state final four and beat Long Island’s Brentwood in the final 2-1.

A strong core, Alex Bramall, striker, Wes Finch, a midfielder and Evan Southworth, a defender, have since graduated, but the Goldbacks still have a strong lineup this season.

Miguel Chaves, a senior, and Mike Baca, a junior, will play striker, and Nick Bramall, a senior who scored 18 goals in 2009, sophomore Nick Catania will play in the midfield. Mike Demshick will be a utility player.

“We’ll use him where (we need him),” said Iorlano, of Demshick.

Bramall was exciting to watch last year, and that enthusiasm hasn’t dampened within the last 9-10 months.

“I’m just excited,” he said. “Everybody has the same feeling.”

By Bond Brungard
sports@tcnewspapers.com