Loudonville Christian’s dream of a Section II boys soccer title will have to wait another year.
Northville’s Jimmy Cole scored two goals in a three-minute span of the second half to lead the Falcons to a 2-1 victory over the Eagles in last Saturday’s Class D championship game at Colonie Central High School.
I thought Northville did a wonderful job, said Loudonville Christian coach Jeff King. `I think they had a different game plan in the second half and they actually allowed us more (scoring) opportunities. But, they also created more opportunities for themselves.`
Loudonville Christian dodged several Northville bullets early on. The Falcons flew around the goal during the first six minutes and launched shot after shot that Eagle goaltender Alex MaLossi stopped to keep the game scoreless.
After Northville’s initial push, Loudonville Christian settled down and started working the ball up to leading scorer Dillon King. The junior created several quality chances for himself in the first half with his fancy footwork and a couple of give-and-goes with sophomore forward Leo Pusatere, but he couldn’t capitalize.
Finally, King got the opening he was looking for in the 30th minute. Pusatere sent a pass in from the right sideline to King, who was alone in front of the Northville goal. King gobbled up the pass and sent the ball past Falcon netminder Mike VanOstrand to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
`He doesn’t usually miss those. Those are gimmees for him,` coach King said of his son.
Loudonville Christian tried to add on to its lead early in the second half. The Eagles created several scoring chances, but they couldn’t get the ball past VanOstrand, who finished with eight saves.
`We had some terrific shots in the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half, and they just didn’t go in for us,` said King. `It’s just the way the ball bounces.`
The ball bounced Northville’s way after Loudonville Christian’s early onslaught. Cole headed a long throw in from Josh Ostrander past MaLossi to tie the game at 1. A short time later, Ostrander fed Cole on a breakaway, and Cole knocked the ball inside the right post to put the Falcons in front.
King nearly had the equalizer for Loudonville Christian late in the second half. He got in alone on VanOstrand, but VanOstrand dove on the shot and knocked it away to preserve Northville’s lead.
When the final horn sounded, Northville’s players mobbed each other, while Loudonville Christian was left with memories of a playoff run that included handing Central Hudson Valley League rival New Lebanon its only loss of the season in last week’s 3-1 Class D semifinal victory.
`Certainly, many didn’t expect us to get this far,` said King. `We learned a lot this year.“