BROOKINGS – The Bobcats’ second-half magic didn’t materialize in Tuesday’s postseason matchup with Aberdeen Central.
The Golden Eagles’ Matthew Maag chipped a loose ball in the box past Brookings keeper Jake Weber less than 5 minutes into the match and Central held on for the 1-0 win to end the ‘Cats’ season.
Trailing 2-0 at halftime in the regular-season match in Aberdeen, the Bobcats scored twice in the second half to tie the game, and then, tallied another goal when the Eagles retook the lead as the teams played to a 3-3 draw.
Last night, the ‘Cats couldn’t come up with the leveling goal despite outshooting Central, 9-7, including a 5-3 edge in shots on goal.
“We were guessing a goal either way,” said BHS head coach Steve Binkley of the predicted outcome. “This year, we’ve always gotten off to those slow starts, so it wasn’t too surprising when they got that one right away.
“Throughout the year, we’ve been really resilient and responded – it felt like we’ve gotten more and more comfortable once a goal gets scored on us – and I think we saw that (tonight). We had so many opportunities; we just didn’t put it in the net and sometimes it goes that way.
“All year long, we’ve been that second-half team – I think it got slick out here and you saw some balls run far on us that maybe we could have gotten to on a different kind of night. We had the wind going our way and things were set up for that comeback, but it was a credit to their goalkeeper who was really coming out and doing some good things, especially in the first half, to maybe prevent some bad stuff from happening.”
Central’s junior keeper Reece Meister finished with five saves in the shutout win while Weber collected a pair of saves as eighth-seeded Brookings ended its season with a 7-5-1 mark.
The ninth-seeded Golden Eagles improved to 8-3-2 and advance to the quarterfinals where they will face top-seeded Roosevelt on Saturday in Sioux Falls.
“I think we played really well – our seniors ended both their freshmen year and senior year as ESD champs,” Binkley said. “One game’s not going to define us and we feel really good about how we played throughout the season.
“Going forward, we’re really excited about the kind of team that we are going to become in the next few years.”
GIRLS’ SOCCER
BRANDON – The fifth-seeded Lynx ended the Bobcats’ season with a 3-0 first-round win over Brookings on Tuesday night.
The ‘Cats finished with a 4-8-2 record.
No statistics were available at press time.
