Boys soccer: Hampshire ousts Burlington Central
As a four-year starter for Hampshire, senior Doug Stuehler has scored his share of goals, but probably none quite as bizarre as the one he scored Wednesday night.
With the score tied at 2-2 against Burlington Central and just over 4 minutes to play in a second 10-minute overtime period Stuehler, pressing the ball on the Rockets end of the field, forced a defender to kick the ball back to goalkeeper David Murphy. However, instead of falling back Stuehler charged at the goal and when Murphy went to kick the ball to clear it Stuehler jumped up to deflect it. The ball bounced right off the side of his face and went into the net for what proved to be the game winning goal for the top-seeded Whip-Purs in a 3-2 win over the host Rockets in Class 2A semi-regional action.
"That was just crazy," Stuehler said. "I just saw the opportunity to try and pressure the ball and I had to take it. There was no stopping once I committed. I was just lucky the way it turned out."
The Rockets had rallied back from a 2-0 deficit in the final 16 minutes of regulation with a pair of goals by Jack Schramme and Ryan Wilmington, whose game-tying goal came with just 1:22 left.
"All the pressure was on us," Stuehler said. "(Central) played us hard and definitely put a scare in all of us. But I know for me it's my senior year and we haven't won a regional yet. So, we were going to give it everything we had. We played even harder in the overtime. I really think we outworked them and that was the difference."
Hampshire (12-7-3) had jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead just over 2 minutes into the game when Tyler Fairwood scored a goal on an assist from Jesus Rivera. Just under 3 minutes into the second half Rivera scored a goal of his own on an assist from Stuehler. Hampshire had dominated play up to that point, but the momentum slowly shifted to the Rockets.
"They beat us last year in the regionals, so we knew we wanted to start out strong," Hampshire coach John Gosling said. "We did that, but then we got a little too relaxed and complacent after we got the lead. Kudos to Doug for being Johnny on the spot. We were fortunate to have that ball go in the net. It's a (bad) way to lose, but a great way to win."
The Rocketes finish the season 9-8-5 after a valient effort.
"It's a tough one to swallow," Central coach Mike Galeski said. "The ending might have been a little bit controversial with an offsides not being called on that last goal, but we certainly don't want to focus on that, and take anything away from what (Hampshire) did. They played great. We gave them everything we had. It was our goal all year to be the fittest team in the area and I think we showed that the last few weeks. We were able to tire some teams and come back on them. I'm just really proud of the way the boys have played."