Riverside, Olmsted spoil undefeated seasons, reach Class B2 final

They may have been underdogs Saturday night but the Riverside Frontiersmen and the Olmsted Eagles boys’ soccer teams played like favorites trouncing over previously unbeaten Southwestern and Burgard.

#6 Riverside 3 #2 Southwestern 0

Omran Dalil isn’t usually the guy the Frontiersmen count on for their scoring but he did just that Saturday night contributing on all three Frontiersman goals in their 3-0 upset victory over the Southwestern Trojans.

“He’s a late bloomer,” Riverside head coach Geoff Hurley said of Dalil. “At one point he had four goals in a row. He’s confident with the ball and doesn’t let people knock him off. Today he stepped up for us.”

After getting the ball from Dalil, Jasper Maniriho battled two defenders before finally putting in the breakaway in the 7′.

In the 18′, Feysal Osman found Dalil who took a shot from 15 yards out that just went over the goal line before the Southwestern defender could get to it to give Riverside the 2-0 lead.

Dalil was in the right place at the right time catching the out of the position Trojan goalie a few minutes later and fired one in. Freshman Mi Per Htoo was credited with the assist.

Osman made clutch play in the 36′ clearing the ball just before the goal line to protect the lead.

Southwestern continued to show fight in the second half, but their offense could only muster up three shots in the entire game.

Trojan senior defender Chris Butler kept his team in the game as he cleared a header that went off the post in the 30′.

Southwestern head coach Jason Deering thought his may have not been quite ready for the moment.

“Even in the first half I thought we were outplaying them,” Deering said. “A couple miss played balls and we didn’t play as fast as we wanted. I think our guys got a little too excited at the beginning and fatigued toward the end.”

Saturday was the second upset in a row for the Frontiersman who beat four seed Wilson on Thursday.

“We’ve have a rough division, but we’ve always had our eye on the B2 bracket and now were one step closer,” Hurley said. “By the midpoint of the season we were 4-6 so it was a make or break time. We just decided to take it one game at time and once we did that it took the pressure off. We’re playing with a high level of confidence right now.”

#4 Olmsted 5 #1 Burgard 2

Jonah Fogel couldn’t have been picked a better time to take the WNY High School boys’ soccer scene by storm.

After having only one goal and one assist all season, the eighth-grader picked up a hat trick in Olmsted’s 5-2 win over Burgard Saturday night.

“He brings everything together,” Olmsted head coach Mark Orlando said.

Olmsted opened the game up when Alex Kreuzer managed to score right off the corner kick. He kicked the ball toward the front of the net and the Burgard defender whiffed allowing it to go in.

Fogel made smooth play slipping the ball past the defender to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead in the 10′.

The Bulldogs came back a few minutes later when Basilo Aung Balat scored.

Olmstead regained their two-goal lead as Chris Cox lasered a shot into the net in the

Aung Balat got his second goal on a blooper shot that found its way into the net to cut the Olmsted lead to 3-2 at the half.

After both sides had many chances on net in the second half, Fogel found himself all alone in front of the net for to extend the Eagle lead to back to two goals. He scored the final goal of the game in the 73′.

Olmsted had lost to the Bulldogs 7-1 and 3-2 during the regular season.

Burgard has been playing ahead most of the time this year, so falling behind early was an unusual situation for them according to head coach Ryan Bauer.

“We ran out of steam,” Bauer said. “Were not used to playing from behind. That was something weren’t experienced with.”

According to Orlando the Eagles knew that they could keep up with Burgard but they had to communicate out on the field.

“It shows the maturity of the team. All season they have been trying to get better,” Orlando said. “We just had to start talking. They hustled and they knew they could do it.”

Riverside and Olmstead will battle in an all Buffalo Class B2 final at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Sweet Home High School.