The Susquehannock boys' soccer team ran into the defensive equivalent of a brick wall during Saturday's PIAA Class AA title contest against Pottsgrove.
The Warriors boasted a dynamic offense that scored 10 goals during the first three rounds of the state tournament. The Falcons focused much of their manpower and strategy on changing that trend. It was a strategy that helped the District 1 champs make it to the championship round and seemed to be working on the Warriors in a game that was scoreless for the first 65 minutes.
That's when Susquehannock did just what it needed to in order to score the only goal it would need to win the first state soccer title in YAIAA history.
It started with Brendan Kulaga making a run down the left side and getting behind the Pottsgrove defender in that area of the field.
"That kind of made the defense collapse," Susquehannock coach Ben Kettlewell said.
Playing off of Kulaga's move, midfielder Trey Chilcoat made a near-post run which sucked another defender toward him. It left Sam Wendler wide open on the far post. The senior easily scored the winning goal with a shot to the left side of the net, but not until after Nick Amberman's attempt bounced right to him.
OK, so maybe it wasn't drawn up exactly the way it played out, but it was the runs by Kulaga and Chilcoat that left Amberman and Wendler open at the top and the Warriors had been trying to set that up the entire game.
"With Brendan getting behind, we had been trying to get that all game," Kettlewell said. "I saw my guys were trying but the ball kept running past or running out of bounds."
Amberman was able to laugh about his botched shot that turned into an assist after the game. He made the right decision to shoot the ball, but the wet conditions did not cooperate. Give credit to Wendler for being in good position and shooting quickly enough and accurately enough to score.
"Sam is always kind of that guy," Kettlewell said. "He's always in the right spot at time and he was just able to capitalize. It was his moment."
Leave a comment