Kenmore East senior captain Mike O’Connor’s heart sank – but not for long – after Niagara Wheatfield drew first blood late in the first half of the Niagara Frontier League boys soccer crossover championship game.
When teammate Kyle Hofschneider beat the buzzer to tie the game a little more than a minute later, the mood at Sparky Adams Field completely changed.
“I put my head down and thought, ‘This is going to be a tougher one,'” O’Connor said. “But once we got that goal it was like, this is not game over, this is game on.”
East came out strong in the second half, O’Connor scored in the 55th minute and the Bulldogs claimed the NFL title with a 2-1 win over the Falcons on Thursday night.
That’s happened to us a couple times this season,” East coach Rolfe Freidenberg said. “These last six or seven games, we had to win just to be in this game, we couldn’t slip up. We’ve battled back a few times this season and it’s nice to see these guys do it again.”
The Falcons won the first meeting at Adams Field by a 3-1 count on Sept. 17 and as halftime loomed, it seemed like history might be about to repeat itself. Alexis Leon scored for Niagara Wheatfield with just 1:23 left in the first half but East had a quick and dramatic answer. Hofschneider took a pass from O’Connor and lofted a shot that entered the net less than a second before the half ended.
“That really boosted our momentum,” Hofschneider said. “I was just hoping for the best, taking the volley, hoping it would go in. I was happy with that.
I knew we weren’t out of it. One goal, changes everything like this,” he added with a finger snap.
The win improved Kenmore East’s overall record to 11-4, including an 11-2 mark against NFL foes. The Bulldogs enter the sectional playoffs on a six-game winning streak.
“This team is starting to realize that heart is what wins games,” Hofschneider said. “We’re going to keep playing with heart to win these games.”
Comentarios