Boys Soccer: Magruder 2, Wootton 1 (OT)

By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com

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Girish Chaskar stood, literally shaking from the cold. Minutes earlier he was jumping into his teammates arms, bare-chested and delirious from the excitement of scoring a game-winning goal with a penalty kick in overtime.

“It’s never too cold to take off your shirt,” Chaskar said. “I’m fine. In the heat of the game it’s alright.”

The No. 2-seeded Colonels came from behind to beat No. 10-seeded Wootton, 2-1, in the 4A West quarterfinals Tuesday night in Rockville, keeping their championship defense alive.

Magruder’s John Hoover was called for a fouled in the box by Wootton goalkeeper Matt Black. Black was given a yellow card on the play meaning junior goalkeeper David Scherbelis had to step in to face the penalty kick. Chaskar slid it into the lower right corner.

In order to win, Magruder had to rely on an offense that scored just 19 goals in 14 games this season, including a stretch with just one goal in five games to close out the regular season.

Wootton struck first with a goal off the foot of Daniel Silversmith just 1 minute, 47 seconds into the game. It was a shock consider that while Magruder hasn’t set the league on fire with its offensive power, the Colonels’ defense has been its strong suit. Magruder had allowed just nine goals in 19 games this regular season.

“I definitely thought we faced a very uphill battle the whole game,” Magruder Coach Steve Pheil said. “I knew deep down that we could do it, but until you do it you’re not 100 percent sure.”

Magruder is an entirely different team than last year’s undefeated and dominant state champion. For starters, the Colonels graduated four premier players in twins Alex and Justin Lee, the team’s glue in midfielder Michael Lansing and the program’s single-season scoring leader Draymond Washington.

But with their departure came a more connected team that knows it’s not as talented as its predecessors but has still felt the pressure to measure up.

“Basically, all we have is heart,” Chaskar said. “We don’t have as much talent but we just stuck through.”

“We have a lot more team skill, we’re more cohesive,” forward Ifiok Akpandak added. “We just fight hard and work really hard and we get it done.”

After Wootton took the early lead, the Patriots brought multiple defenders back to defend. Like the Colonels, Wootton’s strength this season has been its defense. Despite pulling more defenders back, Wootton still created the majority of the scoring chances but could never capitalize. Just 13 minutes after Wootton scored, junior Patriots midfielder Efe Halici saw his open-goal shot bounce of the post.

“We were always living on the edge this season,” Wootton Coach Doug Schuessler said. “We got a little unlucky and they got a little fortunate we didn’t push one in. But we’ve had trouble doing that all season.”

Finally, 15 minutes, 30 seconds into the second half, Magruder knotted the game on a goal by Matthew Greene in which Akpondak took a shot to the far corner the bounced off Black and right to Greene.

Magruder didn’t stop there, creating several more chances before overtime. Colonels senior John Hoover was the player who drew the foul inside the penalty box but the ball was given to Chaskar, who has been in this type of position before.

“Always stay relaxed,” Chaskar said, referring to what he was thinking as he waited to take the shot. “Not as many teams respect us anymore. We’ve just got to show them we can play and we’ve still got heart.”