Brighton will play for its 11th sectional title when it takes the field, Tuesday at Eastridge High School.
By PAUL GOTHAM
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Alessandro Bosa connected on a golden goal with 10:47 remaining in the second extra-time session, and No. 7 Brighton advanced to the 2024 Section V Class AA Boys’ Soccer championship with a 2-1 victory over No. 6 Aquinas.
Bosa broke open along the right flank before tucking a shot inside the far post.
“It’s very overwhelming getting my team to the finals,” said the junior midfielder. “It’s great. It’s a great feeling.”
Teammate Bobby Jones set up the play. Jones made a run along the middle third before sending a diagonal ball that caught Bosa in stride.
“It was a perfect ball,” Bosa said. “I anticipated it. I didn’t think the defender was going to get there. I kept running and shot it really hard.”
That Brighton made it to extra time was due in large part to Sam Robertson. The senior keeper denied a penalty kick from Tin Tin Pasia with 3:28 remaining in regulation and then made the save on a 1v1 situation in extra time.
“He’s amazing,” Brighton head coach Adam Hiller said. “He’s unbelievable. That’s the thing with sectionals. You got to ride a hot goalie. That PK save, Tin Tin hammered that, crushed it. For him to come up with that is unbelievable.”
At the end of September, Brighton (9-6-3) had a record of 3 wins, 5 losses and 1 tie. With Friday’s win, the Bruins are unbeaten in their past six games – a stretch that includes four wins.
“High school sports, it’s all about coming together at the right time,” Hiller said. “These kids, the last two weeks they bought into what I’ve always preached: You play for each other. All 27 players on the team, it doesn’t matter if you play 80 (minutes), it doesn’t matter if you play zero.
“We just want to keep practicing. They love each other. They really do. They joke around with each other. They’re best buddies. After this game, they’ll probably go hang out and play FIFA or something like that.”
Isaiah Matthews gave Aquinas a 1-nil lead in the 33rd minute. Pasia got to the end line the along the right flank and played a ball into the six that Matthews used a heel flick for his first goal of the season.
Aquinas (13-6-0) went unbeaten in claiming 2023 NYS Class A championship. The Li’l Irish had won three of four entering play Friday at Pittsford Sutherland’s Ordiway Field.
“We had our opportunities,” said Aquinas head coach Josh Gleason. “We didn’t convert.
“We didn’t want to go to PKs. At the very end, we went to a 3-3-4 and just tried to score, tried to go for it. I didn’t want to sit back and go into a shootout where he’s (Robertson) got a lot of confidence. He plays really well, so we went for it.”
Brighton beat Aquinas, 3-2 in the season opener for both teams.
“One thing that I respect and appreciate about Hiller is he doesn’t care about the regular season,” Gleason said. “He’s unbelievable. He gets to the postseason, I don’t care what seed he is, his kids are ready. We’ve seen it in the past. He runs a great program.”
The loss ended the high school career of Aquinas keeper LJ Gleason who finished second all-time in program history with 26 shutouts. Jack Burgasser holds the AQ career mark with 31 shutouts.
Brighton’s Graham Yu converted a penalty kick in the 61st minute for the equalizer.
Brighton boys’ soccer has won 10 sectional titles with the most recent coming in 2018. Brighton advanced to the state semifinals that year.
The Bruins will play No. 4 Spencerport in Tuesday’s championship game. A 7:30 p.m. kickoff is scheduled at Eastridge High School.
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