BOYS SOCCER: Berkley rallies back to oust Troy in pre-district
BY DAN STICKRADT
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
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TROY — Berkley has enjoyed its best season in school history this fall. The Bears don’t plan on it ending just yet.
Fifth-ranked Berkley rallied back from a 1-0 halftime deficit Monday to defeat host Troy, 2-1, in a Division 1 pre-district.
“We don’t want this to end —not yet,” noted Berkley senior captain Jason Bormann.
“Even when we were down 1-0 on the penalty, that was really the only shot on target that was threatening,” added Bormann. “We weren’t worried because we were playing well. All of us were working for each other. We knew (the goals) would come.”
Berkley eventually scored in the 57th and 68th minutes to prevail. The Bears controlled play for most of the contest, but it took the first two shots on frame in the final 23 minutes to aid the comeback.
Berkley finally knotted the score at 1-1 on its first shot on frame off the game’s first cornerkick. Junior forward Marco Luna-Gen served the corner into the box and junior midfielder Aden Kaye was there in traffic to boot home the equalizer with 22:36 to go in regulation.
Senior midfielder Max Rebori scored the game-winner with 12:19 to go. Senior midfielder Trey Bishop lofted Berkley’s second cornerkick into the box with junior forward Lucas Schodowski corralling the loss ball and ripping a shot off the goal post. Rebori was there from close range to clean up the rebound and keep the Bears’ postseason hopes alive.
“We were playing very direct soccer. We tweaked some things at halftime. The boys didn’t let the one goal at halftime bother them,” offered Berkley coach Steve Wloszek. “We created some chance for ourselves and fortunately put a couple in the back of the net.”
Troy had a few chances with around eight minutes to play, but could not tie the game and force overtime.
“We had one chance there where we kicked it into the gut of one of Berkley’s players. If the ball was four inches over, that (likely) goes into the back of the net,” offered Troy coach Jim Stachura. “I’m proud of how we played. I mean we were down four starters down because of injuries and we lost on two late goals.”
Berkley (17-3-3) will face Birmingham Groves in Wednesday’s district semifinals at Bloomfield Hills, as the Bears are looking for their first district title since 2005.
Troy, which graduated 19 of 23 players from last season’s Final Four team, finished 8-7-3. The Colts defeated Berkley 1-0 in last year’s district finals. Berkley edged Troy 3-2 earlier this season.
Troy took a 1-0 lead late in the first half. The Colts benefitted when junior forward Ahmed Dakrouni was taken down by Berkley netminder Spencer Meade just inside the penalty box and Troy senior midfielder Oscar Cabrera-Aguilar converted the ensuing penalty kick with 12:00 to play in the first half.
Although Berkley controlled play throughout, the Bears struggled to penetrate Troy’s 2-3-3-2 alignment and did not register a single shot on frame in the first 40 minutes of play.
Berkley had a barrage of long throw-ins, serves into the box, free kicks and long through balls but could not dent the Troy defense until the final 23 minutes.
Berkley held 10-7 total shots edge in the game, while both teams placed four shots on goal and had two cornerkicks in the contest, all four corners in the final 23 minutes.
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