Eighth-seed Brockport battled back from a 1-0 halftime deficit to tie, but lost in heartbreaking fashion with a little over one-minute remaining in regulation 2-1 to ninth-seed Canandaigua in the first round of the Section V Class A1 boys soccer playoffs.
The Blue Devils controlled play through the opening minutes and had three great scoring chances over the first six minutes.
Senior Sean Keenan created the first two opportunities as his cross from the right corner was sent wide by sophomore Jacob Miller three minutes in. He then fed a pass one minute later to senior Tyler Daly, whose attempt was saved.
In the sixth minute, senior midfielder Trevor Poormon sent a long lead pass to junior Cole Beardsley, but his shot went wide.
Canandaigua scored at 10:02 as Jack Ciranni pounded the rebound of a shot off that hit the left post into the net for a 1-0 lead.
The Braves later had a shot glance off the right post in the 31st minute and, two minutes later, Beardsley found himself alone after a long lead pass from Miller skipped on the wet turf past the defense, but the Braves goalkeeper came out for a sprawling save.
The Blue Devils tied the contest 1-1 at 43:34 as junior defender Dom Viola gathered the ball at midfield and found Beardsley, whose thru-pass to senior Nick VanWie was sent just inside the left post for his third goal of the campaign.
Brockport dominated ball and field possession for most of the second half and had three glorious chances to take the lead as senior Ryan Daly shot wide following a VanWie corner kick the 43rd minute, VanWie’s shot after a pass from Keenan glanced off the top of the crossbar in the 61st minute and Miller sailed a shot just wide following a scramble in the box in the 69th minute.
But on one of Canandaigua’s few offensive-third possessions of the final 40 minutes, senior Orestes Papas was in the right place to knock in the game-winner following a 60-yard direct kick that hit several bodies inside the box.
“That’s the game of soccer and that’s kind of been our luck this year,” Brockport head coach Jeff Phillips said afterward. “We’ve taken it to some teams and come up on the short end. We got behind them many times and their keeper, to his credit in the first half he made three huge saves early that kept them in the game.
“To their credit, it’s a great group of boys here. They’ve worked extremely hard all season.”
Seniors Jeremiah, Ryan and Trevor Daly, Paul Gluck, Sean Glynn, Gabe Horton, Ashton Howlett, Keenan, Miller, Logan Peck, Poormon and VanWie all suited up for their final varsity soccer games.
