Jason Lysack of Washingtonville leaps to clear a ball in front of his goalkeeper Thomas Ogrodnik during a state Class AA quarterfinal game against Arlington at Faller Field in Middletown on Tuesday, November 13, 2012. Arlington defeated Washingtonville, 5 - 0. (CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record)
MIDDLETOWN — After dramatic wins in the Section 9 playoffs over Warwick and Monroe-Woodbury and a solid, if uninspiring victory over Corning in the opening round of the state tournament, the magic finally ran out for the Washingtonville Wizards’ boys soccer team on Tuesday night.
Section 1 champion Arlington took advantage of the wide and fast surface at Faller Field to win, 5-0, in a state Class AA quarterfinal.
Arlington (20-1-0) will play Section 3′s Utica-Proctor (17-3-0) in a 4 p.m. state semifinal at Faller Field.
The Washingtonville players felt a bit of a lack of urgency, especially as Arlington controlled play but couldn’t score during the game’s first 20 minutes.
“You could see it in the warmups,” said senior midfielder and captain John LaTouche. “We were slow. Going into the section finals, we had a great vibe. We were all jumping around and all talking. On the bus it was silent. You could feel it. We came here and it wasn’t the same.”
“We lost our focus before the last game,” said senior captain and midfielder Kevin Aussenheimer. “I don’t even know why, but we just lost our focus and didn’t play the same.”
Arlington struck with two goals in a 1:54 span just after the midway point of the first half. Washingtonville tried to adjust at halftime, but the Admirals added three more goals in the second half.
“You can only put so much on a team, you can only adjust so much,” LaTouche said. “You still have to play your own soccer. Every game you go out to play, you have to win. It’s just how it is. Crazy things happen and that’s how soccer is. Today we just couldn’t get the best of them.”
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That’s a wrap on the Section 9 boys’ soccer season. Rhinebeck and Spackenkill, Section 9′s Class C and B representatives, respectively, both lost on Long Island in quarterfinal matches on Tuesday. I’m going to fill in as much of my state preview tonight as possible. It should be a fun weekend for local soccer fans, as the best 20 teams in five classes invade Middletown for 15 games on Saturday and Sunday. For more soccer news, you can always check out my Twitter page: @THR_Montgomery.
