Announcement
Blue Devils claim title with 1-0 over Susquehanna Valley
There was an unlikely hero Monday as Elmira Free Academy won its first Southern Tier Athletic Conference boys soccer championship.
The Blue Devils (10-7-1) got a late goal from sophomore reserve Kail Burfield to beat Susquehanna Valley 1-0 at Marty Harrigan Field. Burfield, who scored his first goal of the season, was mobbed by teammates near midfield in celebration of the hard-fought game's only goal.
The scoring sequence, with a little less than 10 minutes left to play, came after an EFA corner kick when Burfield intercepted the ball on a Sabers clearing pass.
"At first I thought I might volley it, but I just put it on the ground and the shot opened up," Burfield said. "I was really surprise it went in."
"He does that all the time in practice," said EFA leading scorer Frankie Mannino, who was marked closely all game by a tight SV defense. "This is what we've worked for all season. We made history today, and it's been a long time coming. I've been on this team three years and we've always wanted to get the STAC title."
EFA outworked the Sabers in the first half, earning a 9-5 shots advantage, but got nothing to show for it. Susquehanna Valley, ranked No. 7 in Class B in the latest New York State Sportswriters Association poll, controlled the momentum for the first 30 minutes of the second half, even scoring what looked like the game's first goal, until it was waved off by the officials. That's when Blue Devils goal keeper Brian Poppleton snatched the momentum back with a couple of nice saves, including one where he stretched out across the goal to get a hand on a shot that was rolling for the corner.
"I thought their keeper came up big," Susquehanna Valley coach Al Mydlinski said. "That one where he dived and got a hand on the header changed the game. At this level you have to depend on someone to make a big play, and that was it. Then they got some confidence and started pressuring us."
Thirty seconds after Poppleton's diving save, it was a hard shot on goal from the right wing by EFA junior Ross Holden that was parried away by Sabers goalie Matt Schell and produced a corner kick. And Holden, who boots the corners, put the ball in play that preceded Burfield's goal.
Dominant defense was the key for EFA again. Almost half of the Blue Devils' games have had 1-0 scores, including four losses. Senior stopper Mike McGinnis said it wasn't a perfect day, but the Devils' D did its job.
"I wouldn't say we didn't make any mistakes," McGinnis said. "But we did what we were supposed to do. We got the ball to midfield. I'm just amazed that we won it."
EFA, who advanced to the title game over Johnson City on Saturday in penalty kicks, had 13 shots and seven corners. Susquehanna Valley came back with seven shots in the second half to total 12 shots, and the Sabers had just three corners.
"Our defense has kept us in games," Poppleton said. "And our team has thrived on adversity. That's what's made us better and got us to this game."
EFA coach Derek Hamilton also mentioned adversity as a building block for the success of this Devils team.
"We've had trouble all season putting our best 11 players on the field at the same time," Hamilton said. "We've had injuries and ineligible players, and it just seemed like there were a lot of obstacles.
"Today, Brian came up big. Some people may not know, but he's been doing that all year. And as far as Kail's goal, whenever you put a good shot on goal that's what can happen. It came at the perfect time. We can celebrate a little, but now we've got to concentrate on sectional games."
EFA Scoring - Burfield (1-0)
Shots/Corners - EFA (12-8), Susquehanna Valley (8-4)
Saves - EFA (Poppleton - 6), SV (Schell - 6)
