Braves boys edge Crossland, advance to 3A South semis

Moving on

Friday, Nov. 6, 2009

On the soggy terrain of a football field that was used for the last time Tuesday afternoon, the Crossland boys soccer team gained an early lead on visiting Chopticon but could not withstand the Braves and eventually fell 2-1 in the Class 3A South region quarterfinals.

Crossland coach Joseph Willoughby had forced his players to undergo a rigorous workout schedule when fall practices began in August and watched the Cavaliers benefit from their endurance during the league schedule.

But Tuesday afternoon amid the setting sun behind the tree line on the outskirts of the school, Crossland's hard work was eventually neutralized by Chopticon's depth and the Braves advanced to Friday's semifinal round at Huntingtown.

The 10th-seeded Braves (7-8-1 overall) play at the third-seeded Hurricanes at 6:30 p.m. tonight, while second-seeded Crossland finishes the season 7-2-1.

"It seemed like every time I looked up they were bringing in three or four new guys," said Willoughby, who will take over the school's swim team this winter. "We lost one of our guys [Sergio Gonzalez] to an injury in the first five minutes and that hurt. We only had two guys on the bench and one of them had missed practice all week with migraines and did not want to play. Their kid made a great save on that penalty kick and their last goal was really an own goal."

Through the first 25 minutes of play Chopticon passed the ball superbly and spent most of the time in the Cavaliers' zone, but Crossland had the game's first genuine scoring chance.

Sergio Irigollen chased down a free ball deep in the Braves' end and was tackled by Chopticon defender Thomas Gailey and awarded a penalty kick. Irigollen's low shot looked on target, but Chopticon goalie Kyle Flanagan dove sharply to his left to make the save.

With less than 10 minutes remaining in the first half, midfielder Zakaria Mahboube sent a deep through pass to forward Holy Mbah who had gotten five yards past the Braves defenders and then drilled a low shot past Flanagan for a 1-0 lead. Chopticon again spent the last eight minutes in the Crossland end but Cavaliers goalie Carlos Flores made three diving saves to preserve the lead.

Early in the second half, Chopticon sophomore forward Billy Summers was tackled hard in the box and awarded a penalty kick.

From the same spot in which Irigollen had been denied by Flanagan, Summers drilled a low shot into the left corner of the net past a diving Flores to tie the score at 1. At that moment all of the momentum had clearly shifted and the visiting Braves would soon capitalize on their depth and passing.

Flores had been able to make saves on shots by Randall Lewis, Keith Griffith and Justin Beavan, but after a Lewis free kick got sent into the box and barely cleared from it, Chopticon senior Alec Pence drilled a low shot that caromed off the arm of a Crossland player and ricocheted past Flores for a 2-1 lead with 19 minutes left.

"Our passing was really good today," Chopticon head coach Butch Sullivan said. "We had some good scoring chances in both halves. This group of guys really came together. It always seems like we need half a season to blend together, but this group has played well from the start. [Crossland] is much better than they were the last time we played them two years ago. We had not seen them since then, but they have solid players."

tblack@gazette.net