By PAUL GOTHAM
Alex Oleyourryk traded shoulder pads and a helmet for goalkeeper gloves. Jonah Pierce needed to finish an internship three time zones away. Those two pieces added to the puzzle, and the Pittsford Sutherland Knights have found their rhythm at the right time.
After opening the season with four losses in their first six games and entering the sectionals a game above .500 at 8-7-1, Sutherland sits one win away from a trip to the NYS Class A Final Four.
“I always felt like we would be able to compete with anybody, and if we got hot at the right time and the defense put it together, which they clearly have, we would be really tough to beat,” Knights head coach Sean Hopkins said after their victory over the Brockport Blue Devils in the Class A regional qualifier. “I wasn’t expecting us to be here, but over the sectional run I knew there was a shot at it. They’ve been playing really well.”
That Hopkins didn’t expect the Knights to be in this position might have been because the fifth-year coach wasn’t exactly sure what he had.
Oleyourryk stepped in as the starting keeper in the pre-season but the senior had not previously been in that role at the varsity level. As a junior, he recognized he would be caught in a log jam for playing time with two others, so he chose to play a different sport.
“I wanted to try football out for a bit,” the senior said. “I had never played it before and I always kinda wanted to play it. I’m a bigger kid so why not.”
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When his time on the gridiron didn’t go as planned and a return to the pitch looked possible, Oleyourryk didn’t hesitate.
“Football was fun and all, but I knew I wasn’t going to get any PT my senior year,” he explained. “I played with all the buddies on my team this year in club (soccer) since I was seven, eight years old. I saw a spot, and I knew I might be able to start if I worked at it and I decided I’d rather do that and be with my friends than just play another season on the bench.”
Meanwhile Pierce, who aspires to study Biology in college, was working in a lab over the summer at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington. Internship completed; Pierce, a starting outside back a year ago, returned to the lineup but not until the sixth game of the season – a 2-0 loss to division rival Brighton.
With Pierce back in the lineup, the Knights had their entire defensive corps. Next game out, Sutherland tied three-time reigning sectional champ, Greece Athena.
“We went down twice to them and came back both times to tie the game,” Pierce said about that outing which he sees as the turning point in the season. “It was a good performance.”
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The Knights went 5-3 for the remainder of the regular season. Their losses? One each to state-ranked division rivals Brighton (for a second time) and Brockport as well as to crosstown rival Pittsford Mendon.
Their defense started to take shape, and the Knights allowed multiple goals in just two games over those remaining eight contests.
“A lot of it comes down to communication,” Pierce noted. “I have (Will) Graupman and Ryan Morabito yelling at me constantly throughout the game to make sure I’m marked and to make sure everyone else is. When one of us switches who we’re covering, the whole unit shifts together.”
Sutherland, which allowed 33 goals over 17 games a season ago, has cut that number to 24 through 20 games this year. More importantly the Knights’ defense has surrendered just one tally in four post-season matches.
“Jonah stepped right into the back where he was for the whole season last year,” Hopkins stated. “Three out of the four played together last year. Last year we played a flat-back four. We switched to sweeper/stopper this year. I think it’s helped us having Morabito a few yards behind everybody else cleaning up the mess.”
Sutherland will meet Section VI Class A champion East Aurora in the Far West Regional. The Blue Devils (20-0-0/ No. 2 NYSSWA) scored with 12.7 seconds remaining in regulation and went on to beat Grand Island in overtime.
“They’re definitely a good team,” Hopkins said of East Aurora. “On defense, they play a flat back-four which was very solid. Their goalie’s really, really aggressive. If we play like we have been, we’ll be perfectly fine and we’ll be in that game battling.”
A 7:30 p.m. start time is scheduled Friday at Spencerport Central Schools.
**Updated to indicate Sutherland’s correct season record heading into the sectionals.
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