By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — David Brassie doesn’t recollect much of the moment.
His teammates won’t soon forget it.
Brassie’s second effort on a Nick Burch service from the right wing proved to be the difference as the Honeoye Falls-Lima boys’ soccer team advanced to the Section V Class A2 semifinals with a 2-1 win over Eastridge, Thursday night.
Brassie outworked a pair of Eastridge defenders and found the back of the net for the game winner with 8:47 remaining in the second overtime.
“I missed the first one, but all game coach had been saying ‘hustle, hustle, hustle,'” the sophomore midfielder commented. “I just went up for the second one, got a head on it and it went in.”
The goal was Brassie’s seventh of the season.
Second effort from David Brassie and @HFLBoysSoccer advances with a 2-1 win over Eastridge pic.twitter.com/4lnQVPsBHM
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) October 25, 2019
“It feels amazing; this one is definitely going on the highlight reel,” he added. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to get over this.
“To be honest, I had no idea. I just blacked out at that moment. I was just like I gotta get my head on this ball no matter what.”
The win marked the third time this season HF-L (9-7-1) downed Eastridge (8-9-0).
“Eastridge is a really good team,” HF-L head coach Mike Merrill said. “We knew going in that beating them a third time would be a definite challenge. They’ve given everybody really good games, and are really good competitors. We knew what we were in for. We were fortunate to get out of there with a win, for sure.”
Burch battled Eastridge defender Jacob Thomas to get the ball out of the right corner before he lifted a left-footed cross into the 18-yard box.
“I saw the opportunity to cross it and thankfully David as good as he is just finished it,” Burch explained. “It just kinda fell to me. I was trying to scoop it in there. I gave it a little scoop and it fell where I wanted.”
It was Burch’s second assist of the season.
“It was hard work by Nick Burch,” Merrill noted. “He really made that play happen. He was working like an animal. It was a great finish, but Nick Burch really made that play happen.”
In their previous meetings, HF-L downed Eastridge by counts of 3-1 and 2-nil. Playing to a one-all draw after 40 minutes, neither of the Monroe County Division IV foes could get the go-ahead tally in the second half.
“Beating a team as good as that one three times, it really says something about our team coming together and working hard,” Brassie stated.
Aladdin Ali gave Eastridge the lead with a spectacular blast from 35 yards out. The sophomore midfielder connected on an upper 90 strike with 23:46 remaining in the first half.
Will Eby converted a penalty kick less that three minutes later to level the match for HF-L.
“We kinda knew what they had coming and their style of play and what we could bring to the table,” Merrill said of the approach to the contest. “We were definitely trying to focus on playing certain areas of the field, maybe a little bit to some of their weaknesses. They’re pretty strong. It proved to be a challenge.”
27:20 to go in the half: Brian Reinke makes the sliding stop and gets some help from his backline to keep the game scoreless. @HFLBoysSoccer @ERidgeLancers pic.twitter.com/9Jbb1YVeP1
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) October 24, 2019
Eastridge played the final 14:10 of the game minus a player on the field after a red card ejection.
HF-L will play the winner of Pittsford Sutherland vs. Midlakes/Red Jacket in next Tuesday’s semifinal.
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