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The Caps capitalize in the blink of an eye

November 14th, 2007 Posted in High School Soccer, High School Playoffs

Brandon Haynes celebrates goal, photo courtesy of V. Llana

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After almost eighty-four minutes of scoreless soccer, the kind of game that drives all those American football fans crazy, the Broughton Caps scored as quickly as you can say “second consecutive east regional championship” and kept the ball out of their net for 16 more minutes to defeat the Green Hope Falcons and move on to the NCHSAA men’s 4A soccer state championship game.

After a scoreless regulation game, just four minutes into the first of two overtime periods, Broughton goalkeeper Scott Goodwin after a save, threw a ball out wide left to junior midfielder Jeremy Shelley, who received it and put another long ball forward down the line to junior forward Brandon Haynes, who outran a Green Hope defender, then cut back inside past another, then shot the ball low to the left past the outstretched arms of Falcon goalkeeper Alex Long for the only goal of the contest.

From the beginning, both teams were playing strong defense, as the first shot on goal didn’t come until the 8th minute from Green Hope’s Magnus Sorenson. Broughton brought the crowd to their feet as a corner kick in the 14th minute required a quick punch out by Alex Long.

Throughout the first half, Broughton was having a lot of success playing a possession-oriented game with some great ground level passes, but could not create any significant scoring chances. Green Hope was having much more success creating their attack using quick transitions as they moved from defense to offense and kept the Broughton defense on their heels for most of the period.

Green Hope’s first great chance came in the 21st minute as they continued their fast transition and pushed a ball up the left wing. As they reached the 18, they passed the ball flat across and took a shot. Broughton goalkeeper Scott Goodwin had to leap and punch the ball away out of bounds to keep it out of the net. Green Hope held the momentum of the game for the next 5 minutes as their resulting corner kick was cleared out, then Broughton was called for a foul about 35 yards from goal. The Falcons free kick was played into the box and headed out off a Broughton defender for a deep throw-in. Broughton was called for another foul just outside the box, only 25 yards from the goal. The free kick was sent directly for the goalkeeper, who saved it easily.

The momentum swung back to Broughton at the end of the half through Watt Williams, Brandon Haynes, and Andrew Novokhatney. Williams intercepted a Green Hope pass deep in their end and dribbled across the field before he found a lane for a shot, which was saved by a diving Alex Long for Green Hope. Minutes later, Haynes brought the ball up the left hand side and after a bad clear went straight up in the air, he attempted a bicycle kick back over his head. Although it was well targeted, it was not strong enough to get past the goalkeeper. Less than 90 seconds later, Novokhatney brought a ball across the front of the goal mouth and put a powerful shot into the box that went just wide left.

Both teams came out strong at the start of the start of the 2nd half, with no team finding any consistent momentum. Broughton fans were brought to their feet in the 55th minute, as Ryan Attayek took a clearance from the Green Hope defense and took a shot from 45 yards. The ball was headed into the goal, except to be punched out again by Alex Long.

As the game was winding down, the teams became more and more focused on scoring what would appear to be the deciding goal. The teams seemed to come a little unglued as the number of fouls increased, as well as the number of offside violations.

Another great opportunity presented itself for the Falcons in the 71st minute as an attacker got free of his last defender by a few yards and seemed to be going one on one versus the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper came out to cut down the angle of the shot, and the attacker got around the goalkeeper, but the defender coming back for Broughton managed to pressure the shot enough for the Green Hope attacker to push it wide left into the side netting.

Green Hope had another excellent chance with just under 6 minutes remaining in the game, as they had a free kick from about 30 yards away from the goal on the right side. The ball was layed off to the left and a shot was taken which curled in toward the goal, past Broughton keeper Scott Goodwin and off the right post, then it was cleared out by the Broughton defense. Green Hope forwards Kyle Bandy and Magnus Sorenson continued to press for a goal, getting 3 more opportunities in the last 5 minutes of regulation, but could not get it into the back of the net.

Broughton brought the attack amount immediately in the first of two 10-minute overtime periods as Watt Williams played a ball into Brandon Haynes on the left hand side. Haynes attempted to cross the ball over to the right, but the receiving player was judged to be in an offside position.

Then, Broughton struck like a lightning bolt in the 84th minute with the quick play up the left sideline, started in the back by Scott Goodwin, to Jeremy Shelley, and finished by Brandon Haynes to put Broughton up 1-0.

Green Hope pushed forward and had attempt after attempt in the later half of the first overtime and into the 2nd overtime. Broughton goalkeeper Scott Goodwin was stirred, but never shaken as he calmly saved everything coming at him. His most crucial save came in the 95th minute as Green Hope’s Magnus Sorenson gathered a ball less than 10 yards from goal at a tight angle and struck it with power — right at Goodwin, who gathered it up for the save.

Broughton nearly solidified the victory in the 97th minute as they mounted a counter attack and Brandon Haynes got past the last defender and was again charging for the goal, but Alex Long for Green Hope moved out quickly and got enough of his body on the ball to deflect it away and out of danger to keep the Falcons hopes alive. It was not enough however, as Green Hope failed to scored in the final 3 minutes and Broughton earned their 2nd consecutive 4A East Regional and 2nd consecutive trip to the 4A State Championship.

Post-Game Comments from Broughton Coach Izzy Hernandez:

About the match:
“For a 1-0 match, it really had quite a bit of excitement, for both teams, I know it’s tough for them to hold their head up. It truly showed an eastern conference championship caliber match. I think both teams tried to play under control and possess. Especially in the beginning, you felt the emotional level of the game, then it started to calm down a little bit.”
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“It looked like both squads tried to possess it going forward, it wasn’t just people coming up and killing it. At times, especially at the beginning, I felt like we were just knocking balls away. I don’t know if it was the emotion of the game or what it was, we weren’t too poised to start off the game.”
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“It really was a game of swings, they had some opportunities, some swings, and same things with ours.”
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“It was an intense match, at this level, naturally, whoever wins goes to the state championships. I know it is tough for them to hold their head up, but they had a good year, and had a great playoff run. It seemed liked both teams were a little bit more defensive minded.”

About the goal:

“Brandon isolated him in transition on the outside and was able to get in behind him and did a great job and he has that ability to do that, to run at some people. It was exciting in that aspect.”

About the state final game and alumni:

“We saw North Meck last year, but it’s a totally different year, with new personnel. Just like us, we are a totally different team from last year, we graduated a strong class from last year, a lot of them were out here tonight, which was great to see. To me, it speaks wonders to have the alumni come back and support like that. But, we are a different team, and we don’t know who we’re playing. There are actually stories for both of them, we already played with one and one we shared a bus ride to the Brittany with when our bus broke down. Our bus, we stopped to get some fuel, and it wouldn’t start back up, and we ended up catching a ride with the Grimsley squad. Do we know them? No, but we sat next to them, we sweated with them. They were very hospitable. I know the coaches from both squads, I have known the North Meck coach quite a bit longer, but they are both good programs.”

About the competition in the Raleigh area:

“It is really tight in this area. In our conference, you feel for some teams that don’t get to go to the playoffs, there are really some quality teams. Here we are going to the state championships, but if you look at our matches and you can see that a lot of our matches have been by one goal and it’s been tight for the kids all year. It’s not like they have had a lot of matches where they have been able to breathe comfortably.”

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Broughton will face the winner of the 4A West Regional final between Grimsley High School of Greensboro and North Mecklenburg High School of Huntersville, which is scheduled for Wednesday, November 14th at 7:00 PM at North Mecklenburg. North Mecklenburg won the 4A West Region in 2006, and lost to Broughton in the state final on kicks from the mark after the teams tied 1-1 in regulation. Grimsley has previously been to the state final in 1987,1989, and 1993.