By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — With little more than 13 minutes remaining in Saturday’s non-league match, Dan Malloy went to the bench with a cramp in his lower leg.
The McQuaid senior returned to the pitch four minutes later with the Jesuit Knights trailing 2-1.
What happened next will go down in McQuaid soccer lore.
Malloy nodded home the equalizer with 5:46 left on the clock and assisted on the game winner less than two minutes later to cap a dramatic comeback as McQuaid defeated the Greece Athena Trojans, 3-2.
“A kid like that you know he’s going to run through the wall for you,” third-year McQuaid head coach Nino Pilato said. “He grinded it out for us.”
Playing at less than a hundred percent, Malloy redirected a Vincenzo Capezzuto cross from the left flank to knot the match. The senior attacker then freed Caden Kress for the eventual game winner with 3:59 remaining on the game clock.
“We were down and had to do what was needed,” he said.
McQuaid improved to 7-1-1 with the win and snapped an eight-game Athena (5-2-3) unbeaten streak.
“It’s a pretty big win,” Malloy commented. “We’re friends with a lot of their players. It’s a great team.”
Highly competitive game & incredible finish between @McQuaidJesuit & @athena_soccer. Knights erase a two-goal halftime deficit to win a 3-2 thriller at Tom Seymour Field. @PickinSplinters @McQ_Principal @MJSNetwork15 pic.twitter.com/floqVozJaQ
— Varsity Media (@VarsityMedia) September 30, 2018
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS COURTESY OF VARSITY MEDIA
Athena, though, threatened to blow out McQuaid early in the first half.
Dylan McDermott redirected an Othman Belhseine ball in the 11th minute for a 1-nil Trojan advantage. Fifteen minutes later, Victor Alongi scored from inside the 18-yard box.
McDermott and Belhseine almost connected again, but McQuaid goalkeeper Carter Duncan cut down the angle on McDermott trying to slot his second tally of the night.
The Trojans took a 2-nil lead into halftime.
“First half we were getting dominated in the midfield, so we just dropped another guy in there,” Pilato explained. “Malloy was playing so well up top it helped.
“We talked about having more effort, and I think he sparked the guys by showing full-out effort – up the field, back and everywhere. That was huge.”
Freshman Andrew O’Hern made a rush to the end line and played a cross to Malloy who tucked the Knights first goal under the cross bar with 30:12 to go in the game.
“Coach always says ‘2-0 is the most dangerous score,'” Malloy noted. “He says it for us when we’re up 2-0, so it was the same vice versa. We knew that we were still in the game. We just had to work harder.”
Malloy won a footrace with the Athena backline but his attempt went wide of frame. On that play he went to the turf with the cramp.
Athena had back-to-back corner kick opportunities but could not convert. Moments later Malloy leveled the match.
“It was one of the best goals I’ve seen scored here at McQuaid,” said Pilato. “It was a great ball in by Vincenzo.”
Undefeated state champions a year ago, McQuaid looked vulnerable two weeks ago. The Jesuit Knights played to a draw with Canisius (VI) – a game Canisius took in PKs to claim the Catholic Cup. Three days later, the Knights were shut out in a loss to Rush-Henrietta. They needed overtime in their next game to beat Wilson.
With Saturday’s win, they cap a week which saw them go on the road and beat Canisius before knocking off an Athena side which is expected to challenge for the Section V Class A title and more.
“We got big shoes to fill after last year,” Kress said. “I’m ready to go all the way.”
McQuaid hosts SOTA/NE Douglass in an RCAC match on Tuesday.
Athena hosts Pittsford Mendon on Wednesday.
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