Massasoit Men's Soccer Falls In PKs At District Semifinals

SYRACUSE, N.Y. ---- Trailing 2-0 after 25 minutes of action the Massasoit men's soccer team rallied and took the lead in the second half. But ASA College scored a late goal and eventually defeated the Warriors 4-3 in penalty kicks on a cold Saturday afternoon at Murphy Field on the campus of Onondaga CC in the Northeast District Semfinals.

"We came out flat in the first 20 minutes and fell behind 2-0 to a quality team," head coach Rui Estrela said. "For these kids to come out and show the character like they did and come back and be leading 3-2 with eight minutes left in the game was really impressive."

Massasoit (11-5-3) connected on its first three penalty kick attempts, but missed the last two which proved to be the difference in the match. The game concluded as a 3-3 tie, as ASA advances to the district finals set for Sunday at 11 a.m. vs Burlington County College.

"It was unfortunate that (ASA) was able to come back and tie it, but PKs are a tough way to end a game, but the game has to end somehow," Estrela said. "PKs are anybody's luck, but I am tremendously proud of these kids. I thought the team deserved more than were we finished this year, but hopefully it is a learning process for these kids, that hard works moves your forward."

ASA College (11-1-1) took an early 2-0 lead, scoring goals in the 19th and 25th minutes and appeared to be in complete control of the game.  However, despite coming slow out of the gates, Massasoit received a spark when Joel Lobo ( Brockton) snuck a shot inside the near post at 36:59 from teammate Ruben Varela (Brockon). Play shifted in favor of the Warriors for the rest of the opening stanza and into the second half.

Down 2-1, Joao Cardoso (Brockton) trapped a pass from Stephan Teixeira (Brockton) off the chest and fired a one-time bullet to the back of the net to even up the score in the 54th minute of action.

In the 69th minute, Teixeira would take a pass from Julio Lobo (Brockton) and beat the keeper far side and have the scoring pendulum shift in favor of the Warriors, 3-2.

Massasoit held its one-goal lead with eight minutes to go, until the stunned Avengers connected to tie the score and eventually send the game to overtime.

Neither team could do much in the first overtime period. In the second extra session, Teixeira rifled a shot off the crossbar, but the Warriors could not capitalize sending the game to penalty kicks.

Adilson DaRosa (Brockton), Rockfeller Fixe (Haiti) and Cardoso all were successful on their PK shots prior to a pair of Warrior misses to end the match.