Wayne, Centerville fall in boys soccer district finals

Warriors lose in penalty kicks; Elks turned aside by Milford.

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By John Cummings, Contributing Writer 2:24 AM Sunday, October 30, 2011

LEBANON — It was hard for members of the Wayne soccer team to mask their disappointment Saturday.

The Warriors dominated play during regulation and two sudden death periods but fell to Cincinnati St. Xavier 3-2 in penalty kicks in the Division I district finals at Atrium Field.

“This group was looking for a little longer run,” Wayne coach Dennis Snider said after his squad finished 10-4-5. “We are all disappointed, but their effort all year has been great.”

Wayne trailed 1-0 at intermission despite outshooting the Bombers 9-4, but the Warriors tied it when Zach Ebright took a through pass from Marquis Payton and beat the St. Xavier keeper to the right side with 36:12 left in regulation.

The Warriors were forced to play catchup a second time after falling behind 2-1, but Luke Burrowes tied it on a penalty kick with 10:22 remaining.

Wayne kept the pressure on, outshooting St. Xavier 19-7 in regulation, and 21-7 for the game Following the equalizer, Payton just missed in a one-on-one race with the keeper and had another shot slide wide after flipping the ball over the keeper.

The Warriors also hit the post twice and Payton ripped a shot that knocked off the crossbar with :49 left in regulation. Payton just missed ending the match in the first overtime when his shot went just over the goal with 1:18 left.

“We hit the post, we were just wide ... we just didn’t do it,” Snider said. “When you have opportunities like that, you have to put it away and today we didn’t do it. We’ve done it in the past. It was an unfortunate way to end.”

St. Xavier hit on all four of its penalty kicks, including one that tipped off the hand of Warrior keeper Michael Ballweg, and clinched the win when its keeper was able to turn aside his second Warrior penalty-kick attempt.

Milford 2, Centerville 0: Milford scored on its only two shots of the first half, including a controversial second goal, to end the Elks’ season in the second game of the day.

The Elks outshot Milford 10-3 but could not find the back of the goal.

“We just couldn’t finish,” Centerville coach Brad Loveless said after his squad finished 14-4-2. “Their keeper did an outstanding job.”

Centerville had plenty of opportunities, including one less than six minutes into the game. Slater Morgann beat the keeper and had an open net, but his shot went just wide.

The Elks had more than a 2-0 deficit to overcome in the second half after Morgann was issued a second yellow card with 2:26 left in the first half.

“We made changes at half,” Loveless said. “We had to throw more kids into the attack. I am still proud of the kids.

They could have quit at halftime, but we asked them to play hard and they did. We just couldn’t finish tonight.”

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