By CARSON WERNER
BROCKPORT, N.Y. — Similar to the first time these two teams met this year, Cooper LaValley scored the game’s only goal and the No.4 seeded Greece Arcadia boys soccer team downed No.1 seeded Spencerport to advance the Class A1 sectional championship.
The game winner came in the 29th minute of the first half when LaValley took advantage of a Brockport slip up at half field and generated a breakaway chance that he buried in the right corner. The goal was also the Titans’ first shot of the game.
In the first half, the Rangers possessed the ball for the majority of the first 30 minutes. They had several chances to take an early lead just within the first 15 minutes. But, for the second straight game, however, Spencerport could not get the ball past sophomore goalkeeper Gabe Taylor.
Sophomore keeper Gabe Taylor refuses to give up the lead. @SoccerArcadia 1@RangersBSoccer 0
28:40 remaining in the second half pic.twitter.com/4HUGIETkAN
— Carson Werner (@CarsonWerner1) October 29, 2019
Taylor stood on his head from the opening kickoff to the final buzzer. By the 25th minute, Taylor had made six saves, including two back-to-back on Spencerport’s leading point scorers. Taylor stopped Max LaRosa’s initial shot from the top of the box before it rolled back out front to Greg Ranieri. Taylor dove in its direction and consumed the ball with his body, getting enough to redirect it away from the net.
“I just tried to close out as much space as possible to make the save,” Taylor noted about his sprawling block off a rebound.
He finished the game with 13 stops while his team accounted for less than five shots on net.
Gabe Taylor again for @SoccerArcadia!!!
Arcadia still up 1-0.
11:51 remaining in the game@PickinSplinters pic.twitter.com/kVvEg0IXK5
— Carson Werner (@CarsonWerner1) October 29, 2019
“He kept us in the game,” Arcadia head coach Matt Vergamini said. “He’s played consistently well all season and I think he’s stepped his game up to another level in the big games this season and he continued that tonight.”
The Rangers had their chances to tie the game in the second half but either missed over top or were stoned at the line by Taylor. Due to Spencerport’s pressure on one side of the field, the Titans were able to create a few early chances on the rush.
“Our game plan going into the game was to play sound defensively, to get numbers behind the ball when we lost possession,” Vergamini added. “When we gained possession, we wanted to push numbers forward and counter. To win today’s game we needed to counter and I thought we did well with that tonight.”
Spencerport had a 10-game win streak snapped by Arcadia earlier this year. After LaValley scored in the first half in that game on a penalty kick, the Titans stacked their defense to hold the 1-0 lead for the entirety of the match.
“Hats off to that keeper,” Spencerport head coach Jody Wyant said. “We could not solve him. We’ve played him 160 minutes now throughout the season and we were unable to put one behind him.”
Highlight from Greece Arcadia vs Spencerport:
Gabe Taylor stops a redirection off a direct kick to keep the Titans ahead with 9 minutes left in the match. pic.twitter.com/EAHd0Dm24V
— Carson Werner (@CarsonWerner1) October 30, 2019
Spencerport’s season ends with a record of 14-3-1. With 16 seniors, the team will be losing a large chunk of its roster for next season.
Greece Arcadia will play Greece Athena for the Class A1 Championship in Hilton on Friday, Nov. 1.
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