By PAUL GOTHAM
WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — Halftime adjustments paid dividends but did not result in the overall desired outcome.
Billy Freeburg’s “golden goal” less than four minutes into the first overtime lifted the Williamsville-South Billies (No. 5 NYSSWA Class A) to a 2-1 victory over Pittsford Sutherland (No. 2 NYSSWA Class A) in the New York State Class A Boys’ Far West Regional on Saturday.
The loss ended the season for Sutherland.
“The second half was awesome,” Sutherland head coach Sean Hopkins said. “We played two-three touch. We moved the ball. We had plenty of chances to score. Unfortunately, just couldn’t get enough.”
Trailing 1-nil at halftime, Sutherland’s Will Field connected on the equalizer with 22:07 remaining in the game. The Knights continued to push forward for the remainder of the contest but could not get the go-ahead marker.
Sutherland struggled to find an offensive rhythm during the first stanza. While the Knights’ defense held its own, the offense had few good scoring opportunities during the first 40 minutes of action.
“South did some different stuff than what we saw on film,” Hopkins explained. “Had four guys in the middle, played with no outside attackers. At halftime, we had to play our outside backs. The outside backs did great.”
58’ EQUALIZER! Will Field connects. @SHSsoccersquad 1 Williamsville-South 1 pic.twitter.com/W0QalF6aSz
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) November 7, 2021
Bruce Damstedt gave Williamsville-South (19-2-0) the lead with less than nine minutes remaining in the first half.
Williamsville-South keeper Nate Allen stopped a penalty kick with 28:48 to go in regulation.
Freeburg’s game winner came on the rebound off a penalty kick.
Sutherland’s Carter Kladstrup guessed correctly and stopped the original shot to his right, but the Knights’ senior keeper had no chance to stop the rebound.
“Bad luck,” Hopkins said of the sequence. “It’s hard to smother it. It just happened to go right back to the shooter. It’s not like any of our guys could have gotten in there in time. It went right back to him.”
Carter Kladstrup denies a PK, but the second chance is too much. Sutherland falls to Williamsville-South in overtime, 2-1. pic.twitter.com/JbxNfJn72B
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) November 7, 2021
Field’s goal was his team-leading 17th of the season.
Sutherland (17-2-2) was making its second trip to the regionals in the past five seasons. In 2017, Sutherland defeated East Aurora (VI) to reach the NYS Class A semi-finals.
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