BOYS SOCCER: Troy explodes for 7-0 regional win over Grosse Pointe South
BY DAN STICKRADT
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BLOOMFIELD HILLS — Moments before Troy’s regional semifinal game with Grosse Pointe South, there was a moment of silence for a Troy student who passed away on Monday.
On the soccer pitch, Troy was anything but silent.
The Colts, who dropped from the Division 1 top 20 two weeks ago, have been on a mission after some late regular-season hiccups and simply exploded on the overmatched Blue Devils to the tune of a 7-0 whitewashing.
Troy (15-6-2) advances to the regional finals for the first time since 2011 and will face Sterling Heights Stevenson, a 2-1 winner Tuesday over Utica Eisenhower. The game will be played at Bloomfield Hills, but the day and time will be announced on Wednesday.
Grosse Pointe South, which only won five regular season games and finished last in the MAC White Division, finishes the season with an 8-11-2 record.
“I think we worked hard in front of the goal, got a couple of deflections and made some timely runs,” offered Troy cosch Jim Stachura. “We had a hard time in the first 20 minutes. We were playing too direct. We changed it up some. I think a guy we put on the field, Bailey Boyanton, hadn’t played a whole lot of minutes that last few games. He’s a real technical player and when the game is really physical he doesn’t help us as much. Today he came into the game, knocked it around and opened up the field for us and got the ball to (all of the right players). That was a big difference.”
Senior forward Joe Mason notched the hat trick Tuesday in leading the Colts to a 7-0 shutout in the Division 1 regional semifinals. Donated Photo
Troy scored two goals in the first half and tacked on five more after halftime — the final five tallies all on breakaways — with the seventh goal coming a man down after a player was issued a red card ejection for retaliation with 25:32 remaining.
“We never really gave them a chance. I knew if we played our style of soccer, then we would be fine,” said Stachura.
Senior forward Joe Mason netted the hat trick, giving him 20 goals on the campaign. Senior Darius Feier added two goals with an assist, giving him 21 goals on the season, while Gerry Wagner and Frank Huang also scored for the Colts, who finished fourth in the loaded OAA Red Division.
Following a long throw in from Ben Kozel, Feier scored with 21:43 left when he turned and fired a shot from the corner of the box that skipped on the ground and nutmegged the South keeper.
That proved to be the game-winner, but not before Troy dominated the Blue Devils in all phases of the game. The Colts held a 20-6 shot advantage, including 12-5 with shots on frame, and also held a 4-3 edge on cornerkicks.
Most of South’s chances came in final 15 minutes after Troy, which features 19 seniors, had emptied its bench.
Feier scored again with 20:15 left in the first half off a Connor Bloomingdale pass for a 2-0 lead.
Behind a steady rain, Troy put the game away with five more goals after halftime.
Mason scored back-to-back markers off passes from Nick Walters and Feier in the first four minutes of the second half.
Wagner, Mason and Huang all converted breakaways with assists coming from Boyanton, Jack Didato and Frederick Hubacker.
Will Myers and Nolan Regan split the shutout on five saves — the Colts’ eighth shutout of the season and third of the postseason. Troy has outscored its four tournament opponents 15-1 and the opposition 46-20 for the entire season.
Stevenson beat shorthanded Troy 4-3 back on Aug. 21.
“They beat us early in the season with five starters out for disciplinary reasons. We had a 3-1 lead with nine minutes left before we had a meltdown,” said Stachura of Stevenson. “I think our boys will be a little more motivated this time around.”
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