Boy’s Soccer Advances to Second Round on Penalty Kicks

Cinnaminson boy’s soccer needed a 4-1 effort in penalty kicks to advance to the second round of the South, Group 2 tourney on Tuesday against Pinelands.

The game ended in a 2-2 draw after 80 minutes of regulation play and two, 10-minute overtime periods in the opening round.

“I think our guys got a taste of how quickly it can be taken away, the season. If they keep that mindset, if they remember that feeling, a little bit of panic, then I think we’re gonna be dangerous on Friday. We’re gonna be confident. Not to use a gambling analogy, but we’re playing with house money a little bit here. Every team we play at this point is going to be good.”

Box Score

Boy’s soccer will travel to face #2 Middle Township (17-1) on Friday, November 6 after Township beat Lower Cape May 3-1 on Tuesday in their first round game.

Pinelands (11-7-1) went up 1-0 less than four minutes into the contest Monday on a shot from Corey Cusack that keeper Mike Deal (five saves) could not corral.

“The way our defense has been playing, we’ve been confident that they’re not going to get an easy goal like they did,” head coach Jay Meile said. “That shot handcuffed him (Deal). We had to come to the realization when they scored we weren’t going to win this game 1-0, but we would have to score two.”

The Pirates (9-6-4) would answer roughly 12 minutes later when Ryan Mahaffy took a nice pass from Mike Lutz and sent it past Wildcats keeper Dave Lunn (13 saves) for the equalizer.

“We just stepped up the intensity,” Mahaffy said. “We made sure we got chances. When it came time, Mike Lutz played me a perfect ball right to me and I put it right past the keeper.”

Then, 10 minutes later, CJ Zimmer took a feed from Pat McCarthy and went in all alone to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead that would hold at halftime and until there was 1.2 seconds left in regulation.

At the 1.2 mark of the second half, the Pirates were called for obstruction in the box, giving Pinelands a penalty kick. The Wildcats sent Matt O’Connell to take the kick, which he converted to tie the game and send it to overtime.

“Two mental mistakes, a good team like Pinelands took advantage of it,” Miele said.

Despite the Wildcats tying the game, the Pirates defense dominated close to 76 minutes in regulation and both of the overtime periods.

“Throughout the entire season, they’ve never let me down,” Deal said. “They are the best in the county, I think. They are always cycling in, backing me up, or we are just communicating to make sure everybody is on the same page.”

Cinnaminson had plenty of chances to grab the golden goal and the victory in both overtime periods, but could not sneak one past Dunn.

The game went to penalty kicks and the Pirates shot first. McCarthy put Cinnaminson up 1-0. Deal saved the first Pinelands shot and then Sampson Abah made it 2-0.

“Throughout the team, every single person in the program, we all rely on each other,” Deal said. “We all know we have big roles in the game. We have to step up when we have to. We just have to make sure we play our best because every game means the world.”

Pinelands answered to move within 2-1, but Sean Bockius gave Cinnaminson a 3-1 lead. The third shot for the Wildcats sailed over the crossbar and Mason Stepnowski clinched the victory with a goal as the fourth shooter.

“We went over penalty kicks with the kids prior to the Coaches Tournament. We had 11 or 12 guys who volunteered to take penalty kicks,” Meile said.

“It’s hard to simulate the pressure that’s gonna come from that, but I think we had a distinct advantage over Pinelands because of that Coaches Tournament game where we hit 11 straight and Burlington Township happened to hit 12 straight. For Mike to respond and make that first save, I was happy for him because he had that chip on his shoulder after that. You could just see the confidence up on the goal line.”

Boy’s soccer will travel to #2 Middle Township this Friday for the second round of the South, Group 2 tournament at 2pm.