By PAUL GOTHAM
ONTARIO CENTER, N.Y. — Rain showers blanketed Porray Field on the campus of Wayne Central Schools during the opening moments of Tuesday’s Section V Class A boys’ soccer quarterfinal. Soon after the downpour ended, the Wayne Eagles had their margin for victory.
“We knew the conditions were going to be bad,” head coach Tim Mattle said. “We talked about balls skipping and bad bounces. We’re going to get breaks, and it’s going to go against you sometimes. Just get back behind the ball, and they did.”
Devin LaDue and Matt Gentile scored goals nine minutes apiece in the first half, and Wayne beat Irondequoit, 2-0.
LaDue connected from just inside the 18-yard box in the 18th minute.
“The ball was played up to Cullen (Bock),” said LaDue. “Two guys stepped in and it was like a scramble. The ball popped right out at my feet. I just placed it top corner.”
Gentile converted a direct kick from 22 yards out for a 2-nil advantage with 13:18 remaining in the half.
“We have three guys who can take direct kicks,” Mattle said. “I called Gentile on that one, but the other two wanted it. I called him and he nailed it.”
“I saw the wall was pretty far back,” the junior midfielder explained. “It looked a little more than 10 yards. Bent it around a little bit over the wall. Keeper was off to the left a little. I just hit it near post.”
The junior trio of Bock, Gentile and LaDue have combined to score 45 of Wayne’s 77 goals on the season. Bock leads the way with 21 markers and nine assists. Gentile has scored 12 times to go with 18 assists. LaDue has 12 goals and eight assists.
“They’re consistent players, and they definitely are the backbone of the team,” Mattle added.
The same two teams played to a 1-1 draw on September 1st at Irondequoit. Tuesday’s win was the 14th straight for Wayne (16-1-1) and 11th shutout of the season.
“We had it at halftime,” Mattle noted. “We knew we didn’t have to score again so we kinda went into a little bit of a defensive mode, not too much and just rode out that second half.”
The victory marked the 300th in Mattle’s career.
“It feels good,” the 25th-year coach said. “I’m happier about advancing than the 300 wins, but the timing was good.”
“It’s pretty cool knowing that we were able to get it for him,” Gentile said.
Wayne moves on to to semifinals for the third straight year where they will meet top-seeded Churchville-Chili (16-2-0/No. 6 NYSSWA).
“We have a lot of skill on the team,” senior captain Jon Graziose said. “Coach knows where to put everybody. He directs everybody. It just comes down to the coaching. We can have the best skill on the field, but if we don’t have a great coach it wouldn’t help.”
Irondequoit (5-9-4) knocked off fifth-seeded Greece Arcadia, 1-0 in the Class A opening round.
Friday’s semifinal will be played at a location and time TBD.
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