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The Oswego varsity boys’ soccer team came out on the short end of a “sudden victory” overtime game on Tuesday evening as they lost to Rome 1-0.
The Black Knights came into the contest undefeated and the host Bucs gave them all they could handle as the hosts outshot the visitors 16-5.
The game started slowly for both teams as no one seemed to be able to maintain possession of the ball for more than a few passes before turning it over. As the half progressed the Bucs began to string together passes and were able to find players free in the offensive third of the field.
Coach Don Fronk said, “I thought in the first half that we had good opportunities to score we just could not seem to find the back of the net. We were a little too sloppy with the ball in the middle third of the field, we needed to use our two central midfielders more. They are our playmakers we need to get them the ball and let them distribute, we did not do that well in the first half.”
The second half of the game was similar to the first half as the Bucs seemed to control the flow of the game and saw good opportunities to score. Fronk noted, “In the second half we did a much better job of getting the ball to our central players to allow them distribute. We again just did not put the ball in the net.”
As the teams ended regulation tied 0-0 they headed towards two 10 minute overtime periods, with the first team to score winningThe overtime was played much like the regular portion of the game as the Bucs maintained possession and had the better of the opportunities.
Just as it appeared the two teams would be headed for a second overtime session Rome’s Mario Gomez found teammate Neil Janes free on a through pass that sent Janes in one on one with Oswego Goalie John Aylward. Janes was able to slot the ball just to Aylwards left to give the visitors the 1-0 victory with 16.5 seconds remaining in the first overtime.
Fronk noted, “This was a disappointing result for us, to play as well as we did and come away with a 1-0 loss is disappointing. I am not disappointed in this team, I am disappointed in the result. The boys played with a a lot of heart tonight and I think we played some of our best soccer in the second half and overtime. We just did not finish, and in our league one goal will decide a lot of games.”
Aylward finished with 6 saves for the Bucs.
The Bucs next game is Thursday at 6:30 at Fayetteville-Manlius.
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