Whether it’s failing to convert quality scoring chances or lacking intensity, Lafayette boys soccer Coach Brian Sorrell is not one to hold back when analyzing his team’s performances throughout the season.
But Sorrell had nothing to complain about with his team’s effort in the Rams’ 3-1 season-ending loss against Kettle Run in the 3A East Region semifinals.
“I couldn’t ask for more,” Sorrell said after the match. “I didn’t see anyone on our team who didn’t leave everything on the field. They played excellent soccer throughout.”
The match began Wednesday night but was suspended in the 29th minute due to lightning, with Kettle Run leading 1-0. The teams returned to King George High at 4 p.m. Thursday to resume play roughly 18 hours later. Although Kettle Run continued to own a clear advantage on the field, the game never seemed out of reach until the Cougars went up 3-0 in the 62nd minute.
The Rams, determined not to be shut out in their final game of the season, finally put one in the back of the net with a little more than seven minutes left in regulation on a header from Matt Beatty.
“We really came back with a better game plan and had more scoring opportunities than we did last night,” Sorrell said. “Coming in here down 1-0, you have to do some things that aren’t really conventional and that was the hard part. It seemed like every time we had a chance they turned around and scored.”
Already behind 1-0 after Kettle Run’s Garett Magill tapped in a rebound goal in the 15th minute Wednesday, the Rams came out aggressive Thursday with Reeves Trott and Jason Eckenrode orchestrating several early scoring chances.
Trott had a makeable shot from the left side he rolled wide right and then sent a nice cross from the into the middle that Eckenrode just missed getting a foot on.
Kettle Run did not threaten too much during the final 11 minutes of the first half as the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Cougars at the break.
Roughly 11 minutes into the second half, Lafayette had its best chance of the match after Trott sent a ball into the box from 40 yards out on the left side. The ball found a wide open Eckenrode who had only the keeper to beat, but his chip attempt over the top was tipped out of play.
The missed opportunity proved costly as three minutes later, King George’s Reece Cooke, in mid-stride, volleyed a pass from Kevin Coleman into the back of the net.
The Rams continued to push, though, and came inches away from cutting their deficit in half in the 61st minute after Justin Wilson crossed a ball from the right side to Doron Davis, who drilled a shot that clanked off the left post.
And sure enough, as they seemingly did all afternoon, the Cougars countered a quality scoring chance by Lafayette with a goal to go up 3-0.
After Davis’ near miss on the other end the other end of the field, Kettle Run’s Evan Szklennik broke away downfield moments later before beating Rams’ keeper Volodymyr Humenyuk 1-on-1.
“That one hurt,” Sorrell said. “We felt like we were still in it and that was sort of a back-breaker.”
Beatty, though, helped end things on a little better note by getting the Rams on the scoreboard in the 72nd minute.
Beatty is one of a handful of players who will return next season, including the Rams’ top two goal scorers Trott and Eckenrode, but Sorrell said it is going to take some time to figure out how to rework his defense that loses standouts Anthony and Andrew Vaccaro and Jordan Barton, along with Humenyuk in goal, midfielder Noor Rahman and forward Doron Davis.
“I’m a defensive guy, not an offensive guy,” Sorrell said. “I’m going to take a week off and then figure out how to replace my defense.”
