It happened again. The Rising Sun girls soccer team was booted from the playoffs by Fallston for the third straight season. And for the third consecutive year, the Tigers were unable to score a goal. The host Cougars tallied twice in the second half to down Rising Sun 2-0 Tuesday, November 3.
The "Fallston curse" struck again. "Losing is always tough to anybody," said Rising Sun coach Dylan Aiman. "There's no shame in losing to a good team and they're a good team. So as far as that's concerned, it is what it is. Our girls played their best. They played their heart out. A loss is a loss." After a scoreless first half, Fallston went ahead 5:31 into the second stanza. The ball bounced around in the box following a long throw in. A Rising Sun defender tried to clear the ball out of harm's way but the ball caromed off another Tiger defender and into the net. "First of all, every throw they took was basically a corner, so it's a dangerous situation," Aiman said. "You give a good team enough chances, they're going to capitalize. I knew that was a possible outcome at some point. And regardless of how it came about, did they earn it? I would say, sure. At the start of the second half we actually were taking it to them then that happened." The Cougars made it 2-0 on a pretty goal with 19:20 remaining. Anna Gentile crossed the ball through the box from the right side and Samantha Decarlo knocked into the open side of the net. Fallston defeated Rising Sun 1-0 in 2013 and 3-0 last year. "I don't know what it is," said Rising Sun senior Taylor Mocknis. "I think they just think that since we're from Cecil County that we're weak and we came four years to show them that we're not weak but for some reason we just can't finish. I just don't know what it is. I'm so proud of the way we played. Every time we play Fallston we come out and we play. We play the best we have all season against them and we always will play hard even when I'm not here." The Tigers were without injured center back Valerie Bragg and played much of the season without injured wing midfielder Jackie Ayers. "I'm down two starters," said Aiman. "It's not an excuse but when you've got to take your starting center forward (Berg) and play her at center back, it changes the complexion of the team. Now I have three girls on the bench and a goalie. So the numbers aren't necessarily there. Again, there's no excuses. And the kids I had on the field played their hearts out and they did their best. It is what it is." Mocknis says the Tigers will keep trying to slay the dragon. "I think they learned from us, the four seniors (Mocknis, Jackie Barbon, Bragg, and Tara Norona), that if we just put our heads to it, we can play with them," said Mocknis. "I taught them to never ever, ever, ever give up, especially not against Fallston. The one thing I keep saying is, 'Don't give up on me' and those girls never did. They played the toughest 80 minutes of their life. I think they can do it again next year." Comments are closed.
|
Categories
All
Archives
December 2018
|