Briarcliff coach Brandon Beck has been telling his team that Class B is up for grabs this year, and they proved their coach’s point on Wednesday.
The Bears, currently ranked seventh in the class in the Lohud Boys Soccer Rankings, upset No. 3 Edgemont with a 1-0 win at Seeley Place Elementary School.
“There’s 10 teams that can go through and win Class B,” Beck said. “It’s wide open. That’s our message. We really want a piece of that title. Last year we went to the semifinals and lost in OT (to Bronxville). There’s a lot of guys back who know what that experience is like.”
In a game that Beck described as “a tug of war,” each team had plenty of scoring opportunities, but only Briarcliff’s Barrett Gumina was able to find the back of the net in the 74th minute.
“It was a last minute change, and it was a short field,” Beck said of playing at Seeley Elementary. “Both teams had so many chances. Goal kicks were pretty much direct kicks. It was literally two teams really going at it and scrapping.”
Briarcliff (8-5-1) missed out on a prime scoring opportunity in the 27th minute when Phil Nasrallah’s penalty kick attempt sailed high, which sent the game into halftime scoreless.
Finally, with about six minutes to play, Matt Dineen found Gumina for the lone goal.
“Barrett Gumina got in behind and kind of ran through the ball and chested it when (Edgemont goalkeeper Josh Newman) came out,” Beck said. “It kind of trickled into the net.”
The Panthers (9-5-1) hit the crossbar twice in the final five minutes, but couldn’t beat Briarcliff goalie Brendan Krupa, who finished with nine saves.
Newman made seven stops for Edgemont.
“Krupa probably made four saves that were game-saving, point blank opportunities,” Beck said.
The Bears have gone 4-1-1 in their last six games, including wins over fellow ranked Class B schools such as Valhalla, North Salem and now Edgemont.
“We’ve played seven of the top 10 teams in Class B,” Beck said. “That was our goal when we were making our schedule. We wanted to play the top teams from Class B. Even if we lose, hopefully we can use that information for scouting purposes. It’s a little bit different from what we’ve done in the past, but it prepares us for the playoffs.”
—-
Best of the rest: Sam Farman scored the winning goal in the 59th minute of host Irvington’s 1-0 win over New Rochelle, helping the No. 1 team in Class B improve to 14-0-1. … Cole Tannor scored on an assist from Bennett Kramer in Byram Hills’ 1-0 win at Eastchester. … Luis Morales scored both goals in host Port Chester’s 2-0 win over Rye. … Eddie Hall scored his first varsity goal in Albertus Magnus’ 2-0 win at Pawling. … Johnny Denis had two goals and an assist in Lakeland’s 3-2 win over visiting Ossining. ... Kris Nikprelaj scored twice and Brett Mattos had a goal and two assists in Mahopac’s 7-0 win over Gorton at Tibbetts Brook Park.
Here are all of the results that we received from Wednesday:
Briarcliff 1, Edgemont 0
Irvington 1, New Rochelle 0
Byram Hills 1, Eastchester 0
Port Chester 2, Rye 0
Albertus Magnus 2, Pawling 0
Lakeland 3, Ossining 2
Mahopac 7, Gorton 0
Ketcham 3, White Plains 0
The post Wednesday’s results: Briarcliff showing it belongs in Class B title conversation appeared first on The LoHud Boys Soccer Blog.