Next Stop: Morrisville College Noon Friday

RFH 2010, Featured Articles, HCS Boys Soccer

Wed, Nov 09, 2011

HCS boys soccer team advances to regionals

Next Stop: Morrisville College Noon Friday

SAUQUOIT -- "Good teams find a way to win."

That's what HCS boys soccer Coach Brian Latella told his Emerald Knights tonight after their 2-0 win over Old Forge in the Section III Class D crossover game. It wasn't a win for the ages, but it moves the Knights on to the next round in the post-season.

HCS won the D-1 title and Old Forge won the D-2 title so the two met to see who would play Cherry Valley-Springfield, Section IV champs.

HCS plays Cherry Valley-Springfield Friday at noon at Morrisville College. The winner of that game advances to the state finals to be played once again in Middletown.

Tonight, HCS brought home a win with a second half surge.

In the first half, the Emerald Knights controlled both possession and tempo of the game, but just could not get more than a handful of decent shots. The good thing for HCS was that Old Forge had difficulty even getting into HCS's end and had even fewer scoring chances.

In the second half, HCS came out with the kind of play their fans are used to seeing in the early going: aggressive, fast, one-touching th ball and always moving forward. They got off several quick, dangerous shots in the first few minutes,

At 36:01, senior Sam Owens drilled in the game's first goal on an assist from Sam Hale.

And, the Knights kept up that tempo. They controlled things in Old Forge's end and kept the Eskimos out of their zone.

Old Forge's efforts on the night can be summed up in one play. At 12:24, they had a throw-in deep in the HCS zone. The ball was thrown in and went straight into the net. But, because no player touched the ball first, the goal did not count.

Freshman Charlie Jerome slammed the door on Od Forge with a goal later in the half, again on an assist from Hale.

Latella was once again pleased with the play of his defense, especially Sam Reilly and Devin Askew.

Cherry Valley-Springfield won the Section IV title, finishing the year at 15-0-1 and ranked eighth in the sportswriters' poll.