By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Webster Schroeder endured at least two foes Friday night.
With corners flags swaying in the wind and a persistent rain pelting the turf, Ben Conrow converted Schroeder’s fifth penalty kick, and the sixth-seeded Warriors defeated No. 3 McQuaid in Section Five Class AA quarter-final action on Tom Seymour Field Friday night.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these boys,” Schroeder head coach Dave Urbanski said. “McQuaid is everything everybody talked about. They got speed. They’re strong. They got technique. To get that one, I don’t know. The boys fought for 110 minutes. That was beautiful to watch.”
After falling behind by one, Schroeder quickly responded to a first-half deficit. Serkan Ozay capitalized on a fifty-fifty ball inside McQuaid’s 18-yard box and found the back of the net to level the match at one in the 38th minute.
“We dug in,” Urbanski commented. “If we didn’t get that goal, I think it’d be a different story. To get that goal back gave us hope.”
McQuaid’s Adrianno Margiotta connected on a free kick from 24 yards away to give the Knights an early edge.
Ozay tallied 37 seconds later.
“That’s soccer. Yan can play that much of a game. What was that like 107 minutes with no goals. That little split time frame has two. To see my boys respond after what we thought was a bad call. I thought we were going to put our heads down, but we didn’t.”
Both squads had chances earlier in the half.
Ozay had back-to-back chances in in the 33rd minute, but McQuaid goalkeeper Tommy Gallina was there both times for stops.
Knights leading scorer, Dan Rooney, let fly with a blast from just outside the 18-yard box in the 25th minute, but Schroeder keeper Guarav Cheema made a spectacular diving save.
McQuaid threatened repeatedly in the match’s closing moments. Margiotta sent a free kick from 45 yards past Cheema’s outstretched hands and off the crossbar. Little more than a minute later, Margiotta hit the cross bar again. Alex Reale got in position for the rebound only to see his header just high over the bar.
“I was saying no more fouls,” Urbanski recalled. “Every time we fouled them, we gave them a free kick. The Margiotta kid number 23 serves probably the best ball I’ve seen all year. The thing was to grind and get through. That’s it. Grind and get through and see if we can get our chance.”
Schroeder’s Andriy Demydiv, Colin Merkey, Ozay and Matthew Harrington also connected on penalty kick opportunities for the 5-3 advantage.
McQuaid’s Margiotta, Kevin Gearinger and Rooney converted their chances.
The win sets up a meeting with cross-town rival No. 7 Webster Thomas. The teams split two meetings this season each winning by a score of 2-1 on their home field.
The loss snapped McQuaid’s seven-game winning streak.
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