AURORA –– The third iteration of No. 3 Marathon and No. 2 Southern Cayuga boys soccer was the highest stakes of the season. The Chiefs earned the rubber match victory 1-0 in the Class C semifinals at Southern Cayuga High School.
The game was as physical as any showdown between the two teams. Every inch was heavily contested, but the Chiefs was firmly in control early. They earned the first two corners of the night and outshot the Olympians through the opening 20 minutes. Marathon found its footing midway through the half and evened things out.
Colton Howe pushed a header just high, on one of the best chances of the first half, with just over 15 minutes left. Moments later a mad scramble in front of the Marathon goal nearly resulted in the first tally. The officials ruled Marathon goalkeeper Daniel Merihew had a hand on top of the ball before it came loose, which by rule equals possession. Marathon drilled the post off a free kick chance late in the half, keeping the game scoreless.
Southern Cayuga was awarded a corner with the clock approaching one minute left in the first half and, after Merihew made the initial stop, Bryce David punched home the loose ball to give the Chiefs the lead heading to the break.
“We just didn’t come out the first half like we can,” Marathon head coach Aubrey Brown said. “If we played the first half like we did the second half, I think we would’ve come out on top. We talked about all season in the close games, execution. If you ask me personally, we had the three best chances of the game and we just didn’t score. Sometimes the ball just has to bounce right the right way, and it did for them on their corner.”
The second half shift was noticeable. At times it felt Southern Cayuga was clinging to its lead as opposed to being the aggressors they were in the opening 40. Despite that, it maintained the lead throughout.
Marathon had a number of close calls at the equalizer, including a play in the box that Brown believed should’ve been called a handball. The Olympians did benefit on a call with just over eight minutes left, when they were awarded a free kick from the edge of the box. The ensuing shot was blocked.
The final look came off a corner kick with two minutes to play in which a mad scramble took place in front of the goal. Southern Cayuga goalie Manny Vasquez secured it and the Chiefs killed off the remaining clock to advance to the championship game.
Marathon ends the season 12-2-1. Brown was disappointing in not being able to achieve more, but knows his team will be back with a chance next season.
“We had a good year overall,” Brown said. “We’re going to miss Robbie (Anderson) and Simon (Donah) a lot next year. But 95% of the team is coming back, so this will be a building step for next year and hopefully we can make it over the hurdle and get to that final goal we want to get to. If we could play 80 minutes, we had a chance this year, but we played probably 50 of the 80 minutes and that was the difference.”
