By PAUL GOTHAM
SANBORN, N.Y. — Leah Marcell scored in the 77th minute, but it wasn’t enough as the Webster Schroeder girls’ soccer team fell to Clarence (VI), 2-1 in the New York State Class AA Far West Regional action, Friday night from Niagara-Wheatfield High School.
Marcell connected inside the 18-yard box for her fourth goal of the season.
The Warriors continued to press for the remainder of the contest.
“The kids fought,” head coach Kent Brown said. “I thought we were in the game. I thought we were going to tie it with 30 seconds left when we got loose on the side.”
After falling behind early in the contest, Schroeder built momentum in the second half.
“For the first 10 minutes, we were off our game big time,” Brown explained. “We were playing on our heels. Their speed up top, we talked about it, but I think the speed up top caused us some issues. They were high press on us. We just made some bad mistakes in the back, and we haven’t made those before.”
Clarence pushed forward for four corner kicks in those opening 10 minutes. Sammi Jo Payne connected on the third of those set pieces. Kailey O’Brien converted a penalty kick in the 32nd minute for a 2-nil Clarence lead heading into halftime.
“The corner kick they scored was a breakdown on us,” Brown stated. “We haven’t had those breakdowns all year. They had a good shot. The PK was sort of a backbreaker. I thought the last 20 minutes of the first half we played really, really well.”
Jinan Clark created a scoring opportunity for Alyssa Doody moments before the intermission, and Schroeder found its rhythm coming out of the break.
“The kids realized we could play with them. We dropped Abby (Herbst) into center midfield which gave us a little bit of size and some pressure on the ball. We wanted to get around the sides. We started to in the second half.
“They’re quick, so we couldn’t get great crosses off because they were able to cover the angles. In the second half, I thought we were really good. We got nothing to hang our heads about. That’s for sure.”
The Warriors (14-3-3) were unbeaten in nine. Brown’s squad had not allowed a goal in the postseason and had not surrendered more than one goal in any contest this season.
“Part of it is a two-hour bus ride, getting off the bus, getting ready to play the game,” the 23-year coach said. “It’s the nature of the sport when you get to this level. Everybody’s got to travel. First 10 minutes, it hurt us.”
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