Fifth seed Lincoln Academy boys’ soccer team connected on eight of 10 penalty kicks to upset fourth seed Oak Hill 5-4 in the West B quarterfinal match-up in Sabattus on Oct. 29.
“We knew it was going to be a battle. It was not to big a surprise,” that Oak Hill came out strong in the 2nd half and took the lead. “Both teams brought a lot of energy and played hard,” coach KJ Anastasio said. “Kyle (Scherer) has come up big all year. I don’t think he always got the credit he deserved. He came up big (tonight) when he had to,” Anastasio said.
Senior forward Patrick Mullin headed in an Ethan Wajer crossing pass to knot the score at 4-4 with 13:49 remaining in regulation to force overtime. “He hasn’t been able to cash in, although he has been right there all year,” Anastasio said of Mullin’s scoring slump. “This was a good game for him” to cash in.
After 80 grueling minutes of regulation play, and two physical 15-minute overtimes produced no goals, the game’s outcome was decided on penalty kicks.
As darkness descended over the Raider field, the first set of PK’s ended in a 4-4 deadlock, with Ben McLain, Brandon Reilly, Andrew Feltis and Pat Mullin finding net for the Eagles, and Bryan Soucy, Sean Adams, Adam Soucy and Dan Tucker scoring for the Raiders. Eagle keeper Kyle Scherer made a diving block on Oak Hill’s fourth shot from Ben Daggett.
Wajer and Zach Lennett traded goals in the second set of PK’s. Both teams were stopped short on second shots, with Scherer blocking Cody Fortier, and Glenn Allen stopping Brandon Bonney.
Tom Masters made the third Eagles shot of the series and Oak Hill’s Jake Samson missed wide right. Abe Hamilton and Raider Tanner Lessard traded shots. Jeff Cheney smoked the fifth shot into the net to seal the win for Lincoln Academy.
Oak Hill’s short field created many shot opportunities and evened the field, as one pass put either team in scoring position.
Ethan Wajer collected a through pass from Andrew Feltis and dribbled through the Raiders’ defensive line to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead five minutes into the contest on the first shot of the game.
Oak Hill tied the score on a Bryan Soucy penalty kick five minutes later. Feltis headed in a Wajer corner kick with 14 minutes left in the half to put Lincoln up 2-1. Brandon Bonney made it 3-1 when he put in a rebounded Mullin shot with 7:43 to play. Jake Samson pulled the Raiders within one, 3-2 at the half, when he converted an Eagle clear on a scramble with six minutes to go.
The intensity of the game heated up in 2nd half action. An inadvertent handball on the goal line on a corner kick led to a second Raider penalty kick six minutes into the half, which was again made by B. Soucy.
Eagle senior defender Michael VanderPloeg went out with an ankle injury with 29 minutes to play, but was able to return to the playing field with 10 minutes to go in regulation. With VanderPloeg out of the lineup, Oak Hill took the lead with 15 minutes to play when Zach Lennett teamed up with Fortier on a mad scramble in front of the Eagles net.
Mullin tied the game up with nine minutes to go to force overtime. Both teams had chances to put the game away in regulation. Kyle Scherer made a couple of diving saves to silence the Raider efforts, and Nathan Riley stopped a Lennett breakaway.
On the other end of the field, Wajer missed wide on a breakaway, Mullin was stopped on a header shot and again on a collision with Raider keeper Allen, and Eagle shots from Bonney, Michael Vanderploeg and Wajer were stopped.
Two 15-minute overtimes were fruitless. Both teams took two shots in each overtime period. Scherer made a diving one-hand trap with nine minutes left in the first overtime and tipped the ball away with another diving save with five minutes left.
Feltis mounted both scoring efforts for the Eagles, and was silenced on a rocket shot with four minutes left. In the second overtime, Ben McLain stopped a Raider breakaway, and Scherer corralled the second effort. McLain literally went head to head with Fortier to stop another Raider offensive threat, and Oak Hill missed on the resulting direct kick.
On the Eagles offensive end, Wajer was stopped with six minutes to play. A Wajer breakaway with 1:08 left in the second OT was stopped by Brian Bradstreet and resulted in a collision, that saw Wajer yellow carded, the fourth yellow card of the game (two from each team). Wajer was not eligible to participate in the first series of penalty kicks because of the card.
Lincoln out shot Oak Hill 28-27 in the evenly matched contest. Scherer made 23 saves for the Eagles, and Allen and Plourde combined for 22 saves for the Raiders.
Falmouth 4 -Lincoln 0
Top seeded Falmouth handed Lincoln Academy a 4-0 loss Saturday night in the West Class B semifinals to advance to the Regional championship game. A physical Falmouth club put on a passing clinic and made good use of the field in the win.
Lincoln approached the game with a new lineup, with two men up front and six across the middle to limit Falmouth’s offensive punch by stifling their cross field passing.
Falmouth took a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game on a beautiful crossing pass from Andy Murry on the left wing. Nationally ranked Gabe Hoff-Johnson slid in from the right side to crease the net for Falmouth. Johnson scored again with 14:10 to go to put the home team up 2-0 at the half. Johnson scored the third goal of the night with 21:46 to go in the game on a corner kick that curled in at the far post. Drew Segerstrom scored with 10:49 to go on a rebounded shot off keeper Kyle Scherer.
Falmouth held a 21-5 edge in shots. Scherer made 14 saves for the Eagles. Ben Goffin made five stops in net for Falmouth. The Eagles best chance of winning came four minutes into the 2nd half when Pat Mullin collided with Goffin on a through pass, but Goffin slid in to make the save.
