By PAUL GOTHAM
SPENCERPORT, N.Y. — For the first 40 minutes of Friday night’s Far West Regional, the Pittsford Sutherland boys soccer team struggled with an identity crisis.
The Knights regained an understanding of their true selves just in time.
Freshman Dylan Kladstrup scored once and senior John Mozrall added two tallies as Sutherland downed Section VI champion, East Aurora, to advance to the 2017 New York State Class A semi-finals.
“I don’t know what happened in the first half,” fifth-year coach Sean Hopkins said. “I’ve never seen that team play before. Rough first half. We couldn’t string any passes together. Couldn’t win any 50/50 balls. We just seemed very flat and out of it for some reason.”
As flat as Sutherland looked prior to halftime, the Knights grabbed momentum early in the second stanza, and Kladstrup, as he has previously in this postseason run, sparked the Sutherland offense.
The freshman midfielder got loose along the right wing and looked to send a cross into the goalmouth when his pass glanced off an East Aurora defender and found the back of the net.
“At the end of the day it was a lucky one,” Hopkins said. “Sometimes you need that lucky break to get you going.”
The tally was Kladstrup’s third this postseason. He also scored the Knights first goal in the quarter-final win over Geneva and in the A2 final win over Honeoye Falls-Lima.
“It was a cross, but it deflected off the defender and went it,” Kladstrup said. “I’ll take it.”
The freshman also converted the clinching penalty kick when Sutherland advanced in the regional qualifier over Brockport.
“It’s the postseason grind,” he added. “We’re all working hard at practice. We’re all enjoying it. It’s fun.”
The Knights continued the pressure and a penalty kick was awarded less than two minutes later when East Aurora was called for a handball in the penalty area. Mozrall converted for the 2-0 advantage.
John Mozrall converts a PK. @SHSsoccersquad 2 East Aurora 0 Class A Far West Regional. pic.twitter.com/Aat0lyohtr
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) November 4, 2017
“All season long we’ve been a second-half team,” Hopkins noted. “The second half still wasn’t great, but at least we found some ways to get some chances to score and we put three in the net. We’ll take that all day.”
Mozrall iced the game in the 78th minute with a breakaway goal – his team-leading 18th marker of the season.
“I just had a lot of time,” Mozrall said of the goal. “The defender missed it. The goalie was way out. I just had to put it over him.”
With the win, the Knights left a third state-ranked team in its wake.
“They have this little edge right now that they didn’t have early in the season,” Hopkins said of the squad. “They just really, really want it. They really want to keep playing together for another week and extend that season as long as we can.”
Sutherland knocked off then-No. 12 HF-L in the Class A2 final. Brockport, the Knights victim in the regional qualifier, was No. 6 NYSSWA Class A. Not only did East Aurora come into the game ranked No. 2 in the state, but the Blue Devils (20-1-0) had allowed just two goals in their first 19 games of the season. To reach Friday’s regional, East Aurora pulled off a dramatic overtime victory over two-time Section VI champion Grand Island.
“East Aurora was a really good team,” Hopkins noted. “They really fought it out. We just kinda got lucky to get a few goals there at the end.”
Sutherland will take on the winner of Goshen Central (IX) vs. Vestal (IV) in next Saturday’s semi-final.
2017 NYSPHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships Class A
“There hasn’t been a team at Sutherland go to the Final Four since 1999,” Hopkins noted. “We haven’t won a state title since 1985. They want to put a mark on it. They feel like they didn’t get any love this season and at 8-7-1 you’re not going to get a lot of love in a season. We knew we could play with teams. We just needed some bounces to go our way. I feel like we’ve gotten better and better and better as the season’s gone on. We’re peaking at the right time.”
A 1:45 p.m. kickoff is scheduled next Saturday at Middletown High School in Middletown, New York.
Leave a Reply