NORFOLK – The 5A
South boys soccer quarterfinals got underway on Tuesday afternoon at Powhatan
Field with Kecoughtan and Menchville’s season ending as Hickory and Maury earned
berths to a semifinal game, which will be played on Wednesday at 7 PM at the
Virginia Beach Sportsplex.
The other
semifinal matchup will feature Richmond teams Mills Godwin vs. Douglas Freeman
at Deep Run High in Henrico County.
MENCHVILLE 4,
MAURY 4 (MAURY WINS 3-1 ON PENALTY KICKS)
In a game that
couldn’t be decided in regulation or four overtimes, it took a round of penalty
kicks to decide the 5A South quarterfinal match between Maury and Menchville.
In the end, Menchville’s season came to a bitter end as Gio Sakursky’s penalty
shot sailed over the goal, capping a 3-1 win on penalty kicks for Maury.
Despite the
loss, Monarch coach Brian Lybert had nothing but praise for his team. “They
(Maury) fought hard. It’s the third time this season we’ve had to score in the
last five minutes. I hate to see it end this way, but I couldn’t be more proud
of our guys.”
Lybert had hoped
that his team could pull out the win in overtime because “it’s always a coin
toss with penalty kicks.”
Ali Jammi
appeared to put the game away in the first overtime for Maury, when his shot
from 10 yards out found the net with 1:12 remaining. But Taylor Fitzgerald
answered in the next minute, scoring on an indescribable shot from outside of
35 yards, one that went inches over goalie Joey Schneider’s outstretched hands.
In the last
minute of the second overtime, Maury standout Shamarr Perry gained control of a
breakaway pass, with only Menchville goalie Ian Fitzgerald standing between him
and the goal. But Fitzgerald stopped the shot, and then the two collided,
leaving both players down on the field momentarily.
Perry opened the
game’s scoring at the seven-minute mark, arcing a shot from the right wing, 20
yards away, one that eluded Menchville goalie Ian Fitzgerald and found its mark.
The Monarchs
tied the game midway through the first half, as a long pass snaked through the
Commodore defense, and Daniel Deanhoffer outran four Maury players, gained
control of the ball behind the defense and drilled an easy shot into the
opposing net.
Maury’s next
goal was an accident. Defender Josh Johnson’s kick from 45 yards downfield
bounced toward the goal. Fitzgerald ran out from the box to collect the ball,
but ran into his defender, as the ball bounced a second time over his head and
into the net as the Monarch defense helplessly watched.
With just over
eight minutes left in the first half, Gio Zagursky’s grounder toward the net
caught the Maury goalie off guard and he stumbled to his knees before
stretching out fully just in time to watch the shot roll two feet wide of the
goal. Maury took a 2-1 lead into halftime.
Menchville
caught a break in the second half when Deanhoffer’s corner kick reached the
front of the net. In the scramble for the ball, Maury was called for a foul,
setting up a penalty kick from senior defender Brad Malarky. As Maury goalie
Joey Schneider hedged to the left, Malarky buried a shot into the right side of
the net, tying the game at 2.
Perry kept the
Monarch defense off-balance throughout the game. On one exchange, he gained
control of the ball 25 yards straight in front of the goal, dribbled in a wide
semi-circle to within three yards of the left post and shuffled a pass toward his
teammate in the center, who shot just wide of the goal.
But it was
another Maury foul that gave Menchville control of the game. With 14:04
remaining, a Commodore foul in front of the goal set up a second penalty kick,
this one by senior defender. Like Malarky earlier, Gregory also aimed, and
found a soft spot in the back of the right side of the net. With Gregory’s
goal, the Monarchs took a 3-2 lead.
But a mental
error proved to be costly for Menchville. With 6:45 left, Perry stole a pass
and took a soft shot on goal, one that bounced off Fitzgerald. As the goalie
rallied and went after the ball, a defender interfered and kicked the ball
upfield.
However, Maury’s
Tucker Sanford got a hold of the errant kick and disposed of the ball in the no
open net, once again tying the game, this time at 3.
Half:
Maury 2-1. Goals: Menchville, Deanhoffer, Malarky, Gregory, Fitzgerald. Maury,
S. Perry, J. Johnson, Sanford, Jammi. PK: Maury 3: Perry, Boukhriss, Sanford.
Menchville 1: Gregory. No other game stats available. Records: Menchville 11-4-0,
Maury 14-3-1.
HICKORY 3,
KECOUGHTAN 0
In the opening
game, the Kecoughtan Warriors faced a daunting task, squaring off with undefeated
Hickory, the #1 seed from Conference 9.
Hickory’s first viable
scoring chance came in the 28th minute as midfielder Jake Pinello
lofted a floater from the right side to the front of the goal where Aaron Riggs
had a clear header opportunity. However, his shot was deflected off the foot of
Trevor Stanius.
However, the
Hawks’ persistence paid off 16 minutes later, in the form of a laser like shot
from 15 yards off the right corner of the pitch, off the foot of Trey Smith,
whose drive glanced off the left goalpost into the Kecoughtan net.
Hickory had
other scoring opportunities in the second half, but the Warriors’ Conference 10
first team goalie Luke Messick blocked several in front of the net, keeping the
game close.
Midfielder
Brennen Burton had Kecoughtan’s best scoring opportunity in the second half
with 17 minutes left to play, kicking a rocket from 25 yards away that sailed
just right of the goal mouth.
The Hawks
clinched the game when forward Joe Byrnes got between a bumbled exchange
between Messick and a Warrior defender, gained control of the ball and was left
with a wide open shot three feet in front of the goal, which he converted.
Kristian Rinkus added a goal in the game’s final two minutes.
Half: Hickory 1-0. Goals: Hickory, Trey Smith, J. Byrnes, Rinkus. No other game stats available. Records: Hickory 15-0-0, Kecoughtan 8-8-2.
No comments:
Post a Comment