St. Patrick's boys soccer season came to a close on Monday with a 3-0 loss to Pendleton County in a 23rd District quarterfinal match on Monday at Tom Browning Boys and Girls Club.
Two of the top teams in the district, the Saints and Wildcats met in the last two district championship games, with Pendleton County winning both, and played to a 1-1 tie two weeks ago in Falmouth. In what was essentially a play-in game with the emotion of a district final, Pendleton County's experience -- the Wildcats have 12 seniors on their 19-man roster -- proved to be the difference as seniors Matt Feltner and Korey Workman each had a goal and an assist. For Feltner, it was his 21st goal and ninth assist on the year while Workman increased his tally to 17 and 11.
Though disappointed to see his first season as head coach come to an end, Father Ivan Kalamuzi was pleased with the effort from his team in the game and on the season as a whole.
"I'm so proud of the boys," Kalamuzi said. "This was supposed to be a rebuilding year after losing six seniors from last year, but we've had a good season. Coming out and playing a team like Pendleton with 12 seniors can be tough. I think we had a good run, but we think we can have an even better year next year and we'll be looking forward to that."
Pendleton County went on the attack early and created several scoring chances, but came up empty thanks to St. Patrick goalkeeper Brian Flores who made several tough saves and finished with 11 for the game. The Wildcats finally broke through on a corner kick at the 15 minute mark when Feltner found Michael Walsh who scored on a header. The goal would be enough for Pendleton as St. Patrick would mount few serious scoring opportunities, despite getting off 14 shots. The closest call for the Saints would come when Edward Jimenez fired a shot from just inside the midfield stripe which deflected off the off the outstretched arm of Pendleton goalkeeper Tyler Fitzpatrick and then off the crossbar.
Feltner and Workman continued to work together on the Wildcats' front line in the second half, setting up multiple scoring chances. In the opening minutes of the half, Workman was denied when Flores made a diving save and later Feltner would fire a shot off the right crossbar. Feltner would finally find the net when Workman played a ball ahead to him as he got behind the defense for an easy score. In the closing minutes, Workman would put back the rebound of a shot by Travis Rawe for the game's final score.
Following the game, Kalamuzi praised both teams.
"I'd like to congratulate the winners," Kalamuzi said. "We knew it was going to be a tough game and we tried to prepare the best we could. We have injuries all over so we knew that was not going to favor us in any way. Still, we had to come out and compete and I think we did that."
Pendleton County now advances to a semifinal matchup on Wednesday, where it will face Walton-Verona, a team the Wildcats beat 9-0 earlier in the season. Today's semifinal match will feature Mason County (7-10-1) and Grant County (9-7-1).
Pendleton County 1 2 - 3
St. Patrick 0 0 - 0
PC - Walsh, 25th minute
PC - Feltner, 52nd minute
PC - Workman, 74th minute
Records: Pendleton County 10-4-3, St. Patrick 7-5-1.
Reader Comments
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Slick wrote on Oct 14, 2008 8:01 AM:
" Congratulations on a fine season St Pats. We look forward to a Championship next year! "
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