Devils Eliminated by Oakwood in District | The Register-Herald
In a hard-fought district semifinal match, the Brookville boys soccer team battled Oakwood to a scoreless deadlock Tuesday for most of the first half.
Story by Ron Nunnari / The Register-Herald
With two minutes left in the half Lumberjacks sophomore midfielder Nick Vandyke hammered a kick in to make it 1-0.
One minute and seven seconds later disaster struck when sophomore forward Graham Pontzloff, who was positioned near left post about 15 yards from the net, took a pass from the right side of the pitch in the middle of a pack of players.
Devils goalkeeper Ayden Cowens didn't have a clear view of the field due to all of the players grouped together in front of the goal. Pontzloff swung his leg and nailed the ball into the left side of the net before Cowens could react as the Lumberjacks took a 2-0 advantage with 43 seconds left.
When play resumed in the second half Oakwood kept pressure on the Blue Devils by keeping the ball in Brookville's half of the pitch.
Brookville took a shot on goal with 26:03 remaining but Oakwood goalkeeper Carson Franklin made a nice save to keep the score 2-0.
With the Lumberjacks mounting more pressure on the Brookville goal, the Blue Devils cleared the ball down the right sideline. As the Lumberjacks gave pursuit sophomore Beck Fowler took a shot that caromed off the post. Senior forward Branson King pounced on the deflection and nailed the ball into the net to cut Oakwood's lead to 2-1 with 11:06 remaining.
Oakwood put the match away when sophomore forward Jack Morrissey put the ball into the left corner of the net with 6:45 remaining to secure a 3-1 victory.
The contest was nearly identical to the Lumberjacks 2-1 win over the Blue Devils in regular season play on Sept. 11.
"They held us to a few shots, which was similar to the first game as well. We had seven shots in the first game and they only had nine, so it was pretty balanced," said Brookville coach Dylan Harris. "Tonight, they didn't have a ton of shots on goal, we just made mistakes in clearing the ball and not playing the ball resulting in easy opportunities for them.
"Oakwood is a really hard working team," Harris added. "They were hungrier than we were today and they capitalized on mistakes more than we did, so that was the ultimate result."
Brookville concludes its season with a record of 13-4-2. No. 2 seed Oakwood, now 14-3-2, advances to face No. 4 seed Cincinnati Madeira today (Saturday) at Bellbrook at 7 p.m.
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