Boys' Playoff Soccer: Lake Braddock 2, Marshall 0

By Phil Murphy
Content Editor, DigitalSports.com

**Check below the story for a video player to re-live the game in 16 minutes.**

Oftentimes, when weather moves a match to a neutral site, the previously designated home team loses the substantial competitive edge it would have had on its familiar pitch.

Not so for Lake Braddock.

The Bruin possession-style attack flourished on the open, artificial surface of West Springfield as Lake Braddock defeated Marshall, 2-0, in the first round of the Northern Region Tournament on Tuesday.

"There are no going to be no bad bounces," said Bruin junior Dillon Edwards of the FieldTurf surface. "You know you can always rely on the ball to come right to your foot. You have a lot of space to open up to check back, look wide. You don't have to worry about the edges being bumpy on the sideline. You can always make sure your touch is good."

"It was just like a track meet."

Added senior defender Matt Dalhoff: "You don’t have those pits where the ball keeps rolling in the drain. Everything is so perfect. It's predictable."

But holding a visible advantage in possession, rarely allowing the Statesmen beyond the middle third of the field, and claiming a 15-2 lead in shots did not yield any goals for the Bruins by half time.

In fact, with what Lake Braddock coach Joe Soos said evoked a feeling "somewhere between fury and laughter," Marshall had the best scoring chance of the first half.

In the 39th minute, Statesmen senior Greg Goldbach received a low cross in front of the near post with his back to the goal, before turning and firing at sophomore goalkeeper Joe Conte.

The shot hit the crossbar, but the rebound was blasted into net by Marshall sophomore Chris Gates. However, three steps into his salsa-dance celebration, the referee disallowed the goal when he saw Gates had been flagged by the linesman for being offside.

Early in the second half, the Bruins finally broke through against the staunch Statesmen defense – which had allowed three goals in the previous four games.

In the 51st minute, Edwards sent a cross deep into the penalty area. An attempted Marshall heading clearance fell at the feet of Lake Braddock senior Brandon Burney atop the 18, but his volley one-hopped three yards to senior Alvaro Angulo. The muffed-shot-turned-assist was slotted inside the left post to put the Bruins ahead, 1-0.

"It felt good because we were dominating the whole game," said Burney, a place kicker for the football team who narrowly missed the frame on two free kicks. "We just never can put the ball in the back of the net. It feels good to see it go in."

In the 74th minute, Lake Braddock doubled the margin. Another long Edwards run led to a low cross at the top of the six-yard box, which senior Percy Rojas blasted past Marshall goalkeeper Wally Al-Kakan. The goal erased the memory of a point-blank, open-goal shot by Rojas two minutes before.

Another disallowed Marshall goal in the 78th minute cemented the final margin.

"A lot of our games, we've had a lot of chances and the other team will just come back and sneak one on us," Burney said. "They almost got one on us a couple times."

While the Marshall season has ended, Lake Braddock's lives to fight again, but it draws mighty National District champion Yorktown in the Northern Region quarterfinals.

But neither Soos – who will almost assuredly spend the next 48 hours game planning for Thursday night's match– nor his players underestimate the Patriots or forget the legacy the Bruins have established in Soos' tenure, especially with elimination always 80 minutes away.

"'Who are we?' is what we say before every game," said Burney, a member of the Bruins since serving as the varsity team manager in the eighth grade. "We've had a good past, so when younger guys come in, they know what it's like to be in big games like this."

Added Edwards: "The past four seasons, we've had four district wins in a row. We have to keep stuff like that going, see if we can keep the tradition alive."

Three-year starter Dalhoff chimed in: "We want to win the Regional Tournament this year instead of Districts."


E-mail: pmurphy@digitalsports.com

                           1   2       F
Marshall             0   0  --  0
Lake Braddock   0   2  --  2

GOALS:
LB - Angulo (51)
LB - Rojas (76)

CARDS:
none