Wilmington Charter’s Brian Shannon tallied two goals as the Force advanced to the DIAA Division I semifinals.
SMYRNA – Soccer is normally a low-scoring game.
Not on Saturday night.
Charter of Wilmington and Caesar Rodney combined for two goals in the first three minutes, and five in the first 17 minutes. Then the Force kept it going, firing in two more goals in the second half and pulling away for a 5-2 victory in the quarterfinals of the DIAA Division I Boys Soccer Tournament at Charles V. Williams Stadium.
“Thankfully, our goal-scoring shoes were on tonight,” Charter coach Jon Gillespie said.
The fourth-seeded Force (13-3) needed plenty of offense to overcome the fifth-seeded Riders (11-5). Charter will meet top-seeded Appoquinimink in the semifinals on the same field Wednesday, at a time to be determined.
Caesar Rodney jumped to a 1-0 lead just two minutes in, as Josh Bennett outmuscled a defender and scored on a right-footed blast from close range.
“We’d been defending really well coming into the tournament,” Gillespie said. “We hadn’t let a goal in in five or six games, and I think that was a little bit of a setback. CR came out with a lot of energy and a lot of speed and came right at us.”
But it only took the Force a minute to equalize, as Eamon O’Connor slotted the ball perfectly to Zach Bopp for a goal. Then Charter took a 2-1 lead in the seventh minute when Mike Mattamira crossed a ball to Kevin Eriksen, who settled it and scored.
CR answered in the 14th minute when Chris McPoyle zigzagged past a defender and scored. But the Force regained the lead at 3-2 just three minutes later, as Tommaso Morrione found the net off a deflection.
“When we got the third goal, I talked to them at halftime and said we just need to slow down a little bit,” Gillespie said. “We were kind of trying to have a track meet with them, going back and forth, and that’s kind of their game.”
The strategy worked, as the Riders couldn’t generate as much offense in the second half. Brian Shannon pumped in goals in the 48th and 52nd minute – the second on an assist from O’Connor – to put it out of reach for Charter.
Appoquinimink 2, Newark 0
The top-seeded Jaguars (15-1) got two goals three minutes apart in the first half and outshot the Yellowjackets 11-1 to move into the semifinals.
“Typically, we score goals in the second half,” Appo coach Adam Bear said. “Getting the goals early, it kind of calmed us down. That was a good thing.”
The Jaguars’ first goal came when a long free kick from Andrew Longhurst rattled around in the penalty area and found the foot of Lance Ksiazek, who belted it home in the 22nd minute.
Appoquinimink’s Lance Ksiazek tallied a goal as the Jaguars defeated Newark in the DIAA Division I soccer playoffs.
Appo made it 2-0 in the 25th minute on a beautiful play off a corner kick. The ball went in to Matt Dina, who found fellow captain Stephane Ratsimbazafy cutting across for a lunging header.
“I think we played fairly well,” Bear said. “We were missing a few opportunities toward the end, missing a finishing touch there, but defensively we did really well.”
Newark (12-4), making its first postseason appearance since 2007, got five saves from Clayton Hansen. The junior laid out for a huge stop on a point-blank shot in the 17th minute, and made a brilliant save on Ratsimbazafy’s 25-yard free kick to the top left corner in the 24th minute.
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ