Huskies Advance Past Maret with Shootout Victory

For most of Tuesday's Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference quarterfinal match-up, the Huskies found themselves on the back foot as the visitors from Maret launched 19 attempts at finding the net. But back-up goalkeeper Nick Waters came up big for the Huskies and, after the score was still knotted 1-1 following 100 minutes of play, stopped three of Maret's four penalty kick attempts to seal a 3-1 victory in the shootout.

Maret's Jon Lipsey took the first kick during the shootout, slotting the ball to Waters' left and into the goal. Flint Hill's Myles McGinley responded with a cool finish to the other side of the goal.

Waters, starting in place of the injured Scott Kuras, then stopped the next three attempts by the Fighting Frogs. Senior Alex Rizik, senior Bo Malin-Mayor and sophomore Aaron Lipsey all tried to place the ball to Waters' left. But on each occasion, Waters dove and made the stop.

Of Waters' saves, Flint Hill coach Chris Brown said his goalkeeper was "nervous but he made one particularly good save. But to save three out of four penalties is great. It's absolutely brilliant."

Even with the saves, though, Flint Hill still needed to put away their own attempts, which they did. Junior Sebastian Abrigo put the Huskies' second attempt over the crossbar, but sophomore Ricardo Manosalvas put a low shot to the right side of the goal that froze freshman goalkeeper Jack Spiegelman.

Leading the shootout 2-1 and with the chance to win the game, sophomore Gabby Bergman stepped up to the spot for Flint Hill's fourth spot kick. His low shot looked to be easily cradled by the kneeling Spiegelman, only for the youngster to spill the ball and see it trickle across the line to his left, setting off a celebration for the home side.

The visitors, though, were the ones who looked more likely to finish ahead throughout most of regulation. Flint Hill struggled to link up their passing game for large chunks of play, and Maret's Jon Lipsey was orchestrating from the middle of the field, releasing his teammates just behind the Huskies' back line. The elder Lipsey's delivery often took advantage of the Huskies' back line losing its shape.

Brown said his side was getting into trouble because Flint Hill's "two center backs get caught square. They get pushed up, they get caught square and things get knocked over the top. However, they've got to have quality delivery, and No. 10, Jon Lipsey, is quality for Maret. I've known him since he's a little boy and he's quality; he can play."

Maret head coach Mohan Telfer explained, "We controlled the possession like we've been doing all season. We play a good possession game and we create chances, so we did that today. I thought we played very well in the first half and we were unlucky, we should have been up by a couple goals by halftime."

Despite nine shots in both the first and second halves, Maret only found the back of the net once.

After the game, Telfer, whose squad includes 12 sophomores and three freshmen, lamented, "We've got to finish opportunities. It's a young team and they don't finish. They don't put teams away. That's the one problem in our season."

The lack of finishing was highlighted in the Fighting Frogs' best chance of the first half. Aaron Lipsey played a cross from his right back position over Flint Hill's defense to his brother on the far side. Jon Lipsey attempted to lob the ball over the 'keeper with a first-time volley, but was short on power as the ball fell easily into Waters' hands.

When Maret finally did break through, the Fighting Frogs weren't pulling ahead, but pulling even.

Just over five minutes into the second half, Abrigo latched on to a ball approximately 35 yards out from goal as it rolled away from the Maret penalty box. The junior unleashed a first-time drive that flew into the top of the goal.

It was only a matter of minutes before Maret drew level through Jon Lipsey. A Maret cross from the right side evaded two Flint Hill defenders on the near post and fell inside the 6-yard box to Maret's No. 10, who made no mistake in putting the ball away.

Brown was disappointed with his squad, and particularly his goalkeeper, on the equalizer.

"I thought [Waters] was at fault for the first goal. He let it drop in his 6-yard box, and we've talked about it all season: We've given up too many goals from balls dropping in that 6-yard box," Brown said.

But Brown was also full of praise for Waters in keeping the Huskies in the contest.

"He made three very good one-on-one saves, came off his line well, made himself big, made the kid beat him and he didn't," Brown said.

One of those saves came just after Maret's goal. Flint Hill defender Matt Mantagne made a block and in the race to grab the rebound, Huskies' central defender Will Chanania lost. The ball was played up the middle into the space vacated by Chamania, releasing Maret's Matt Bainum in behind the defense. But Waters was quick off his line to snuff out the chance.

Bainum got behind the Flint Hill defense twice more as the second half waned on, but Waters rose to the challenge on each occasion.

The wasteful finishing came back to haunt the visitors as the game headed to overtime and the ensuing penalty kick shootout. Maret's season comes to an end with the loss.

For his part, Brown was satisfied with his team's performance.

"We talked just before the overtime started about this is everything, there's nothing to leave off this field, this is the last time there'll be a game on this field all year, so leave it all out there and they did. You know, some of the boys gave everything they could, couldn't leave any more. I'm very pleased," Brown said.

With the win, Flint Hill advances to the MAC semifinals to play at Sidwell Friends on Thursday at 3 p.m. The Huskies will also open play in the state tournament on Friday when they travel to Collegiate in Richmond for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.

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