SOMERS, N.Y. - On Monday, Oct. 26, Somers went on the road to face third-seeded Hastings, and the old-fashioned grass field was hard to miss. Still, the Tuskers accepted the terrain and had a couple of early incursions into the offensive zone. But so did the Yellow Jackets, and with Hastings making itself at home to a much greater degree, the uneven play followed suit.
The third seed scored once in the first half and once in the second for a 2-0 victory that ended the Tuskers' season.
Trevor Keimig and Harper Ritson both got a little traction at 39 and 37 minutes, but Hastings set the early tone nonetheless. Pressure early sent Danny Semenza, Owen Higgins and Kaon Demaj scrambling, and seven minutes in, the defense could only gasp when the ball appeared to roll toward the net with eyes.
At 34 minutes, the barely errant grounder mercifully let the Tuskers off the hook. Back the other way, Keimig had the Yellow Jackets wincing when he got a step ahead. That is, until the senior went down in a heap, and a no-call had the visiting crowd sighing in dismay.
They felt even worse around 26 minutes. Following a cross pass that had Semenza kicking the ball out of bounds, Eli Sundheim lined up for the throw-in and connected with the head of Felix Casey. Above the fray, the midfielder directed the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.
Hastings didn't let up, either. Two minutes later, Louis Von Rege almost broke the game open with his header off the crossbar.
Instead, Somers really gave Justin Wilmot something to do around the 15-minute mark. On a free kick from midfield, the Tusker attack stampeded around the goalie and left him on the ground with the ball in his grasp. With the ball still bouncing around, Wilmot made an amazing save as he was getting to his feet.
A few minutes later, Wilmot was relegated to bystander when Keimig got behind the defense again. On the left, the senior shot, and the ball went just wide of the right post.
From there, Hastings kept up the pressure with a few more close calls and didn't relent after intermission. After a pooch pass that Kai Ghalib ran under, Braeden Gibson's slide tackle on the advance set up a corner kick.
Zack Brower did the honors, and Casey was the target. The midfielder soared again and had his team come down with a 2-0 lead on the header.
In at 38:21, the Hastings defense held the fort as Somers futilely fought back. Over the next several minutes, the Yellow Jackets shut down all the Tusker daylight and kept the clock ticking.
Still, Somers kept coming, and a corner kick at 27:25 almost leveled the playing field. The ball came down, and the only thing higher than Benny Baran's head were the hands of a Hastings defender. At least, that's what the Tusker believed as he pleaded with the referee.
To no avail, Somers could only count a few more decent chances before the final whistle and was forced to accept the end.
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