Red card contributes to Lancaster Catholic loss against state's top-ranked team in Class 2A boys soccer
There's no easy way for it to end. Any team that's still playing in November has accepted that painful fact.
This ending seemed especially harsh for Lancaster Catholic. Not because of one goal or one moment. Because it was all so chaotic.
Faith Christian defeated Catholic 2-1 in the PIAA Class 2A boys soccer first round at Crusader Stadium Tuesday night.
The first goal Catholic allowed came on a penalty kick following a red card. The second was the result of a free kick after a rough collision at the opposite end of the field.
Those two plays conspired to end Catholic's season three days after capturing the school's first District Three championship.
"Not everything is fair," coach Bryan Fossi said. "Fair is a weather condition. You put your head down, you keep working hard and good things will come. That's what they can take from the game."
Faith Christian (20-0) is the District One champion and the No. 1-ranked team in Class 2A by the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association. The Lions broke through in the 21st minute after a play that generated much discussion.
Catholic's Gianlucka Barboza reached out with his hand and deliberately kept a header from crossing the line. The Crusaders then cleared the ball.
The officials didn't appear to see the infraction. Two of them had a prolonged conversation, while Faith Christian's coaching staff yelled from the sideline, before the third official stepped in to join them.
The crew ruled correctly but took the wrong player off the field. Steven Pelaez-Chacon sat out the final 59 minutes. Barboza kept playing.
Ryan Noel put home the penalty kick. Catholic was a man down the rest of the way.
"It's one of the more difficult things to do in the sport itself," LC defender A.J. Minney said of being short-handed. "Especially against a team like that, which is able to move the ball well."
Catholic (17-5-1) still managed to score the equalizer 11 minutes later. Carson Spangler's long throw-in was deflected by Will O'Malley in the box. Barboza stepped into the loose ball and blasted it home.
"The fact that we scored a man down and kept ourselves in the game," Fossi said. "The word that comes to my mind is resilient. I'm just proud of how they went about it and kept it close. Even until the end."
The sequence that determined the final score happened in the 65th minute.
Catholic's Stephen Scott was taken down hard outside of Faith Christian's 18-yard box. No call was made. The counter attack resulted in a foul on Minney at roughly the same spot in the Crusaders' defensive third. Noel took a pass on the ensuing free kick and broke the 1-1 deadlock.
Scott, who scored four of Catholic's five goals during the district playoffs, was removed from the game and never returned.
Catholic applied some pressure in the closing seconds. The final play was a shot by Spangler that deflected off a defender and went wide. The Crusaders would have been issued a corner kick if time hadn't expired.
Faith Christian celebrated and Catholic was dejected. That's the only way these games can end.
"You want to win the gold," Fossi said. "But ultimately we're shaping these boys to take something with them to their future. I want to shape better young men. We could have easily started getting chippy or given up. They were like, 'We're in it; we're gonna win it.'"
Catholic only had two seniors. At the end of the Crusaders' win over Trinity in the district final, junior Luca D'Orazio made an observation.
"This year was our year," D'Orazio said. "We feel like next year could be our year as well."
This season has ended for Catholic. The Crusaders will have to wait and see if that second part comes true.
