Schools

Pearl River Boys Soccer Starts Slow, Falls to Lakeland in Quarterfinals [VIDEO]

Lakeland eliminated Pearl River from the Section 1 Class A playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the Pirates Tuesday at the Orangetown Mighty Midgets Complex in Orangeburg.

The Pearl River boys soccer team got away with slow starts in recent games.

The Pirates were not so lucky Tuesday.

Lakeland scored early to take the lead and held off a late rally to defeat Pearl River, 2-1, in the Section 1 Class A quarterfinals Tuesday at the Orangetown Mighty Midgets Complex in Orangeburg.

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"That's been our issue the last couple of games," Pearl River Coach Damon O'Keefe said. "They came out and wanted it more. We didn't play our best in the first half.

Pearl River, the No. 2 seed in Class A, finished it season 14-2-2, with both losses coming to Lakeland. The Hornets won at Pearl River, 1-0, during the regular season.

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"It's frustrating," O'Keefe said. "They're frustrated right now due to the fact that we are not getting to the goal that we wanted to get to. They knew the importance of this game. You've got about 14 kids over there who will not be back next year."

Lakeland put the pressure on Pearl River from the opening moments of the game and finally broke through when Tim O'Driscoll's long shot went through the arms of Pearl River goalkeeper Justin Cueva and into the goal to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead.

"We created so many chances and our goal was really off a mistake," Lakeland Coach Tim Hourahan said. "I feel bad as heck for that goalie. I thought the goal was deserved because of the amount of pressure we got down there."

"(O’Driscoll) did a good job controlling the game from the outset," O'Keefe said. "We were concerned about some other guys and he did a good job stepping his play up. He did a very good job dictating the pace early in the game there. He got free and really made us pay for it."

As with the first meeting of these teams, Lakeland went into more of a defensive stance after taking the lead.

"It was huge," O'Driscoll said of taking an early lead. "We just need to get the lead and hold it."

"We played a very good half," Hourahan said. "We've been a good first-half team all year. We played 18 games now and we haven't trailed at the half all year."

Lakeland took the 1-0 lead to the half, then added to it early in the second half when O'Driscoll set up Sebastian Marquez for a header that gave the Hornets a 2-0 advantage.

"It was an unbelievable header he flicked to the pole," Hourahan said.

"We came out in the second half and played better, but unfortunately they scored (their second goal) in the first five-seven minutes," O'Kefe said. "It probably would have been a different game if they didn't. Congrats to them. They made good runs. We just didn't do enough out of the 80 minutes."

Junior Alex Castillo got Pearl River back into the game by scoring the Pirates' only goal of the contest with 25:20 remaining.

"He’s an unbelievable player," Hourahan said. "You look at him and you think this kid can’t blow by anybody, but his ball skills and his determination to get to the goal. He’s a strong kid and a great player. Great players score goals in big games and that’s what he did. He’s a handful. He’s been a handful for everybody all year."

Castillo created an opportunity for a teammate to score moments later, but Lakeland goalkeeper Steven Reiche came up with the save.

The Pirates put the pressure on most of the final 20 minutes of the game, but could not put a chance away. The closest they came was a header by Mike Vinci that just went over the crossbar.

"That was the first time we had been down two goals all season," O'Keefe said. "They showed they could come back, but we just missed some opportunities at the end of the game."


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