By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Publisher
LINWOOD — You know that first few hundred feet of a roller coaster ride? That’s what the first half of Mainland Regional’s matchup against Washington Township in the first round of the South Jersey Coaches Association tournament felt like to the Mustangs. That giddy feeling of anticipation, feeling like everything is smooth sailing.
The second half was like a five-story drop at a 90-degree angle. Followed by multiple twists and turns, and a few upside-down loops.
The visiting Minutemen, the No. 10 seed in the tournament, staged a furious second-half rally that saw them pull to within one goal — twice — before No. 7 Mainland finally hung on for a 5-4 win and a date in the second round with either No. 2 Rancocas Valley or No. 15 Haddonfield.
At one point this season, Mainland (14-1-1) ripped off 10 straight shutouts. Goalie Matt Stellitano was only forced to make an average of 4.5 saves per game during that run. On Friday afternoon he was more like a paintball target, as Washington Township (11-7) unleashed a torrent of shots on him. He finished with a season-high 25 saves.
“We knew they were a great team. At halftime, coach talked about playing defensive. We knew they were going to come out strong (in the second half) because they’ve been in these situations before, in big games. We just tried to stay organized in the back,” said Mainland’s Jack Sarkos, who scored a pair of first-half goals for the Mustangs. “We came out hot in the first five minutes. Coach always wants us to play our hardest in the first five to set the tone. Toward the end, we knew they are a big school and have a bunch of good kids, so we just tried to play defense. Our defense had 10 straight shutouts. We just have to work out on the set pieces a little bit, and the throw-ins.”
Mainland jumped out to what seemed like an insurmountable 4-0 lead in the first half. In the eight minute, Conner Juckett scored on a beauty of a header, into the lower right corner, off a corner kick pass from Sarkos. Three minutes later, Sarkos ripped a shot into the upper right corner of the goal from outside the left side of the 18 to put Mainland up 2-0.
“I saw space in the middle, so I just kind of cut inside,” Sarkos explained. “I kind of scuffed my shot and hit it off the outside of my foot. But it curved perfectly inside the corner. I didn’t expect it to be that nice.”
Sarkos added his second goal a few minutes later, and Victor Figueroa scored in the final minute of the half, beating Minutemen goalie Vince Romano to the spot and getting a shot off as he was falling down.
Mainland’s 4-0 lead began to evaporate — quickly — with 23 minutes left. Brett Guetens scored a pair of goals within a four-minute span, and Township cut the lead to 4-3 with 11 minutes remaining on a header goal by Will McCusker.
“We were lucky. They were throwing everything forward, and I think we lacked a little bit of composure. When a team comes at you like that, one of the things you have to have is composure. We kept knocking the ball out and allowing them to have set pieces off throw-ins. We also had fouls in dangerous areas. It was set piece after set piece,” Napoli said. “Soccer was barely played in the second half. We lost our composure and didn’t do what we were doing in the first half. But they were putting a lot of pressure on us, and for our guys that has to be a learning experience. But, we won, so I’m happy about that.”
Stellitano said Township’s relentless second-half pressure was tough to deal with.
“It was unusual, but I talked to my defense and we were staying positive. Every time a goal went in, we knew we couldn’t allow the next one in. Thank God that Victor put one in. The offense came to play today, and that’s exactly what we needed today. On a day when we let up more than one goal for the first time, I’m really glad we scored five,” he said. “It was definitely a good test. Now we know what to expect in our next game, whether it be against EHT or the next game in the coaches tournament.”
Part of Washington Township’s strategy was to use long throw-ins from the side and crowd Stellitano inside the 6-yard box as much as possible, hoping to get loose balls in front of the net. Brothers Nick and Alex Levie gave the Mustangs defense all kinds of fits, Stellitano said.
“I give a lot of credit to 15 and 16 on Washington Township. They are brothers, and they can take some throw-ins,” Stellitano said. “They had one taking the throw-ins and one covering me the whole game, and I was talking to them. They came out strong in the second half.”
But just one minute after McCusker’s goal, Figueroa scored on a direct kick from about 20 yards out to give Mainland a 2-goal advantage again, 5-3. That turned out to be a huge turning point, because Alex Levie scored with eight minutes to go when Stellitano mishandled a long throw-in.
“Victor has been huge for us all year, and we needed a goal at that point because they were putting so much pressure on us. He scored to make it 5-3, and that was huge. And that turned out to be the winning goal,” Napoli said.
Sarkos said that with the playoffs looming, the Mustangs needed a test like the one Washington Township provided. They passed perhaps their toughest test so far, and in doing so ran their win streak to 12 straight games.
“They are a great team. Coming into the end of the season, and with the playoffs coming up, we need games like this because we know big games are coming,” he said.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays