MONTROSE — Walking off the field in a tie game at the end of regulation Tuesday, Montrose’s Troy Ely had a simple message for teammate Kyle Watkins.
“If we score, it’s between you and me,” he said.
Montrose got an opportunity late in the 93rd minute and, sure enough, the duo delivered.
Ely provided a perfect throw-in pass from the sideline to the front of the net and Watkins headed it in to give No. 1 Montrose a 2-1 victory over fourth-seeded and four-time defending district champion Mountain View in a District 2 Class A boys soccer semifinal thriller.
The Meteors (14-1) advance to Thursday’s championship match and will face second-seeded Wyoming Seminary at Scranton Memorial Stadium at 5 p.m.
“The feeling’s pretty awesome,” Ely said. “All year, Kyle and I have had that connection. I’ve been able to talk to him from the sideline and runs to where I put the ball. I knew we were going to put it in.”
Ely nearly put Montrose ahead in the eighth minute when his shot from 23 yards out off a direct kick hit off the crossbar. But Watkins picked him up three minutes later.
A Meteors corner kick deflected out to Watkins in the front of the net and he finished, burying a shot past to put his team ahead, 1-0.
“I was just trying to put a head on it and put it on a frame and get it in the back of the net,” Watkins said. “Mountain View’s a good team so we knew we needed to get ahead first and get that fire going.”
Mountain View (10-2-2) had a chance to tie in the 18th minute when James Goodenough’s corner kick was picked up by Chris White, who headed it toward the goal but was denied by goalkeeper Brendan Buck.
The Eagles, however, squared the match up in the 36th minute when Ed Bognatz took a pass from White inside the 18-yard box. Bognatz then fired a shot to the inside right post and scored to send the game to halftime tied.
“My confidence was through the floor,” Buck said. “It was terrible. But my teammates are so good and they kept me up. They really allowed me to come back in the second half.”
Indeed, Buck responded well. In the 45th minute, Goodenough got behind the defense and after a deflection between him and Buck, Ryan Lavin had a clear path for a goal. But Buck made a diving save to keep the game tied.
Four minutes later, White got another header off a corner kick but this one went off the crossbar and out of play.
A turnover in the 60th minute gave Goodenough a good chance to score when he got off a shot inside the box but Buck again was there to deny him.
“Brendan’s been huge all year,” He’s come up big when we need him.”
Giovanni Amato came inches from giving the Meteors the lead in the 69th minute when his shot hit off the right post.
Neither team would get off another major threat in the final 10 minutes of regulation, sending the game into a first 15-minute overtime period.
With just under three minutes to go in the period, Montrose had a throw-in from the right sideline. Ely ran over and grabbed the ball, turned around and gave a point and a nod to Watkins.
“I knew that once I pointed to him, he knew where to go,” Ely said. “We had about seven or eight opportunities before that and Kyle made it a point before overtime that we needed to get on the back post and attack the back post and he was exactly right.”
Watkins began his run and leaped to the middle and finished off Ely’s pass, heading it into the back right corner of the net to send the Meteors to the title match.
“I’m just proud of the boys,” coach Dan Cherney said. “We’ve preached all year that if we’re going to win, we’re going to win as a team and we did that. Our boys played unbelievable tonight.”
Contact the writer: shennigan@timesshamrock.com
Mountain View (10-2-2) 1 0 0 — 1 Montrose (14-1) 1 0 1 — 2
MON: Kyle Watkins. 10:57
MTV: Ed Bognatz (Chris White). 35:20
MON: Watkins (Troy Ely). 92:49
Shots-corners: MTV 10-4, MON 13-2.
Saves: Jesse Gerfin (MTV) 10, Brendan Buck (MON) 6.
Wyoming Seminary 2,
Lakeland 0
At Wyoming Seminary, Andriy Molchanov and Geronimo Maspero scored goals to lead No. 2 Wyoming Seminary over No. 3 Lakeland in a Class A semifinal.
Kyle Hall had two saves to earn the shutout for Wyoming Seminary, which will play No. 1 Montrose for the district championship Thursday.
Lakeland (11-2-2) 0 0 — 0 Wyoming Seminary (17-2) 0 2 — 2
SEM — Andriy Molchanov 42:00
SEM — Geronimo Maspero (Andrew Schukraft) 75:00
Shots-corners: LAK 4-3, SEM 18-4.
Saves: Terrance Arendt (LAK) 3; Kyle Hall (SEM) 2.
Girls
Rhiannon Berghauser had two goals and an assist as
No. 3 Lakeland advanced to the District 2 Class A girls final with a 4-1 win over No. 7 Holy Cross in a semifinal Tuesday.
Taylor Flynn had a goal and an assist for the Lady Chiefs, who will play No. 1 Mountain View on Thursday for the district championship.
Felicia Dzielak scored for Holy Cross.
Holy Cross (6-5) 0 1 — 1 Lakeland (9-2) 2 2 — 4
LAK — Rhiannon Berghauser (Taylor Flynn) 3:58
LAK — Berghauser 20:15
LAK — T. Flynn (Berghauser) 49:24
LAK — Lindsey Domonoski (Jordyn Flynn) 61:25
HC — Felicia Dzielak 78:34
Shots-corners: HC 5-3, LAK 15-7.
Saves: Erin Kranick (HC) 9; Emily Sashko (LAK) 2, Carolyn Cortes (LAK) 1.
Mountain View 4, Montrose 0
At Mountain View, Hannah Richner had a hat-trick to lead the top-seeded Lady Eagles.
Lucy Adams also scored for the winners and Hannah Phillips had five saves to earn the shutout.
Montrose (7-3) 0 0 — 0 Mountain View (10-1) 2 2 — 4
MV — Hannah Richner (Karlee Weida) 15:17
MV — Lucy Adams 27:17
MV — Richner (Erika Freely) 55:05
MV — Richner 65:11
Shots-corners: MON 5-2, MV 23-4.
Saves: Anna Churco (MON) 9; Hannah Phillips (MV) 5.
