(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
MANITOU SPRINGS — One bounce can change the entire course of a team’s season. Or as was the case on Thursday night in Manitou Springs, two teams’ seasons.
Rio Sueyoshi was looking to skip the ball against the grass at Richardson Field, but he misfired. The ball deflected off Manitou keeper Zach Talbot and trickled into the net.
That little deflection kept Dawson in the Class 3A boys state soccer tournament with a 1-0 win over Manitou.
“It wasn’t the hit I planned on,” Sueyoshi said. “I intended to skid it against the ground since it was a little wet, but it went off him and ended up going in.”
That goal happened in the seventh minute of the game, meaning that Manitou Springs had 74 left to get an equalizer.
They had plenty of chances, especially toward the end, but it wasn’t be.
Coach Ben Mack felt comfortable with what his team would be able to do in that time and didn’t think that the quick lead for Dawson (11-3-2 overall) threw his boys off in any way. He thought it would be a battle down to the wire, but he just felt that the result would differ.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“I didn’t think that they were going to score another goal on us after that first one went in,” Mack said. “I thought we were going to get one. I thought, fully, in my heart of hearts we were going to get one, maybe two.”
Mack was hoping his sophomore core of Cullen Cote, Riley Jungbauer and Jezreal Sommers would be able to put in an equalizer. Dawson keeper Tony Aieta did enough to deflect any Manitou shots that made it on net.
To help throw Manitou off, Dawson coach John Siegrist decided to make a formation change for Thursday night. Rather than going with his standard 4-3-3, he switched to a 4-2-2 in order to have a forward attacking midfielder.
“I had thought a lot about how we were going to play them and how we were going to move players around,” Siegrist said. “It worked.”
At first glance, the early goal seemed to cause a bit of panic for Manitou (12-3-1), but the home team eventually settled into its grove. The idea that they were shell-shocked by the ball bouncing Dawson’s way wasn’t going to serve as an excuse for the final result.
“I’m sure that got to some of us,” senior defenseman Alliah Holcomb said. “But this year, we’ve been coming from behind 1-0 a lot.”
And both teams battled to the very end. Dawson tried to possess the ball in the closing minutes to run the clock and secure the win while Manitou fought tooth and nail to find an equalizer. One late shot went off the post while another just sailed over the crossbar.
“They played really hard,” Sueyoshi said. “It’s hard to deal with an own goal. We almost had one and that would’ve dropped us a lot mentally.”
Dawson will head right back to the Colorado Springs area on Tuesday to face Colorado Springs Christian School in the second round of the tournament.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)