Announcement
Surging Elmira Free Academy Soccer Team Delays Horseheads' Title Chase!!
Munson's goals, tight defense propel Blue Devils
However, the Blue Devils had their say in the race for the championship Wednesday afternoon at Marty Harrigan Field by denying Horseheads' bid to wrap up the division crown in a 2-0 victory over the Blue Raiders on Senior Day.
Senior forward Justin Munson scored a goal in each half and senior goalie Luke Ford made seven saves to propel the Blue Devils.
"We definitely came out and played our hearts out," Munson said. "It hasn't been there all season, then finally, the second half of the season, it comes around. We needed this spot in sectionals; we needed the first seed, so we had to come out hard and win this game. We did what we had to do and we played great defense."
EFA (6-6-1, 4-5-1 in STAC) put itself in prime position to secure the top seed for the Section 4 Class A tournament. The Blue Devils are 2-0-1 in their last three games and have a chance to finish 5-1 against STAC West foes with a win at Elmira Southside on Friday.
"It's a little disheartening that we're going to end up 5-1 in STAC West without a STAC West title, but Horseheads has been the more consistent team the entire season, so they definitely deserve a chance to play Corning for the STAC West title," EFA head coach Derek Hamilton said.
Horseheads (8-5, 6-4) gets a second shot at clinching the division at 4:30 p.m. Friday at home against second-place Corning. Corning can force a one-game tiebreaker against Horseheads with a victory.
"I expect these guys will rebound on Friday and be ready to play," Horseheads head coach Curt Grottenthaler said. "They've been driven to play as a team all year long.
"I think, quite honestly, we outplayed EFA in possession in the second half, only having 10 men because we lost a guy to a red card in the first half. So I think these guys are resilient. They'll play as a team and be ready to go on Friday."
Munson's first goal came nearly 10 minutes into the game after he took control of a loose ball following a long feed from Alex Varkatzas, then booted it past Horseheads goalie Cody Greene.
The score stayed 1-0 until 7:45 remained in the game, when Munson tapped in a shot over Greene after being set up with a long pass from Nick Lian.
"Those are two typical Justin Munson goals," Hamilton said. "He's one of those kids who steps on the gas and goes through anything he gets a chance to. They were both hustle goals. He followed the plays through and didn't give up on them and put himself in a position to score two nice goals."
Horseheads had a chance to get the second goal back just 19 seconds later, but a penalty kick by Eric Garrison caromed off the post to the left of Ford.
Later in the game, a header from Horseheads' Jeremy Post hit off the crossbar and bounced back to Post, who headed the rebound over the net.
The Blue Raiders had a great scoring opportunity midway through the first half, but Ford made a diving stop on a hard shot by Collin Archambeault that was targeted for the upper left corner of the net.
"The biggest thing was Luke Ford in goal," Grottenthaler said. "He made three or four saves tonight that should have been goals. He played an amazing game."
It was the third game back for Ford after he broke his leg in the preseason.
"Satchel Waters did a fantastic job for us for a month," Hamilton said. "Luke's kind of stepped in and picked up where Satchel left off. We have two quality goalkeepers. Luke's playing phenomenal right now."
Hamilton also gave a lot of credit to his players on the defensive side, who have spearheaded a strong surge heading into sectional time.
"Our back six played fantastic (Wednesday)," he said. "We kind of put a new system in the last couple of days. Moving Nick Lian to the back really kind of changed our season here. We've gone without a loss in three games, and that's been the difference so far."
EFA Scoring - Munson (2-0), Varkatzas (0-1), Lian (0-1)
Shots/Corners - EFA (5-1), Horseheads (7-7)
Saves - EFA (Ford - 7), Horseheads (Greene - 3)
