VALATIE — Ichabod Crane ended Voorheesville’s soccer season for the second consecutive year last Friday in another exciting Class B quarterfinal match.
However, Voorheesville had a lead this time, and lost in daylight.

Playing another quarterfinal against the top-seeded Riders was like déjà vu, Blackbirds’ senior defender Ethan Campana said after last Friday’s 2-to-1 loss. “They played the same,” he said. “It was the same type of battle — two good teams going at it.”

Voorheesville wasted no time putting pressure on Ichabod’s defense in the first half. In the 18th minute, an unsuccessful clear attempt by the Riders bounced to Luke Gorka at the top of the box, and Gorka’s low shot to the far post put the Birds ahead, 1 to 0.

Campana told The Enterprise that Voorheesville “felt great” after Gorka’s goal. Last year, the Blackbirds were unable to score against Ichabod.

Ichabod teams of the past were more technical and liked to possess the ball more, Voorheesville Head Coach Willie Sanchez said. “These guys play more direct and we understood that; we wanted to absorb their play,” he said. “If we pressed them, we might have given up more opportunities if we were stretched. We held a deeper line because they’d try to go behind our backs.”

The Riders were substantially better than Cohoes, the team the Blackbirds had faced in the first round. Voorheesville’s defense had a lot more to deal with against Ichabod.

“Technically, on the ball, their first touches were very good,” Campana said. “Their passes were to men running off the ball, which was very different.”

After Gorka’s goal, Ichabod Crane woke up, said Head Coach Gustavo da Costa. Jimmy Hollister moved up from the midfield to forward, which made for some scoring chances. “I told them [my players] to send him [Hollister] long balls because the defense was a little weak,” Da Costa added. “We started playing our style.”

The Birds were already concerned about Hollister coming into the match, and, with about seven minutes left in the first half, Hollister got free and put a goal past goalkeeper Jimmy Connolly to the far post. There had been a miscommunication with Voorheesville’s defense.

Hollister was teetering along Voorheesville’s defensive line throughout the game — there must always be a defender between a striker and the goal or it’s an offside penalty — and Sanchez did not like how the referee was out of position on Hollister’s score. “It’s already hard enough to beat Ichabod without the refs having too much of an impact,” Sanchez said. “This game is so important. It sucks when they [the refs] have a negative impact.”

The second half was played evenly for the most part as a battle in the midfield. Braden Racey and John Moreau had a few chances near Ichabod’s goal, but nothing too serious.

But 20 minutes into the second half, Nick Johnston scored top shelf for the Riders on a ball sent into the box by George Cox. The goal materialized off of a corner kick; Cox had time to place his assist because Voorheesville’s defense was packed in the box. Ryan Dugan decided to tap the corner kick to Cox, who was unmarked.

“We were too focused on getting guys on the post, marking up…they saw us getting confused and not paying attention,” Campana said of Johnston’s game-winner. “They played that ball in quick and caught us off guard.”

Mistakes are a bigger deal in lose-or-go-home playoff games, Sanchez said.

“You don’t have tomorrow to correct the mistake,” said Sanchez. “Those type of quick goals happen all of the time. You have to give Ichabod credit; they served it.”

Going down against the Riders is never ideal, but Campana said that was not a time for his teammates to start putting their heads down. He said beating Ichabod Crane takes composure.

“The second you give up, you’re done. No chance,” added Campana. “You can’t say that you lost. You have to keep playing and know that you’re still in the game.”

Voorheesville kept pushing, but Ichabod defended well. The Birds had two free kicks in the final minutes.

Sanchez said that Voorheesville dealt well with adversity all season; the team had a few comeback victories. “There was no letdown,” he said after the game. “Today could have been that day, but it wasn’t.”

For now, the day that Voorheesville gets past Ichabod Crane will have to wait.

“We didn’t play our best,” Sanchez said. “Ichabod had a lot to do with that.”