MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A tale of two halves saw the Crusaders concede three second half goals, as they fall to Dalton State 3-1 in the SSAC Tournament semi-final.
After falling to Dalton State in somewhat dubius circumstances in the regular season, the Crusaders came out like they had a point to prove. It took less than 60 seconds for the Crusaders to get themselves off the mark.
Caoimhin McConnell picked up the ball high on the right-hand side and drove inside the box. McConnell's touch took him past his defender and his speed proved too much as he was brought down and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. McConnell stepped up to take the penalty and drilled the ball bottom left, leaving Nicolas Leite no chance in the Roadrunner net.
Now that Carey had the lead, they were content to let Dalton State possess the ball in non-threatening areas and try to add a second on the counter if given the chance. The Crusaders stayed strong defensively. 16 minutes in and the Crusaders had a chance to double their lead.
Alessandro Villarreal's long throw into the box was flicked on at the near post. The flick on fell to the feet of
Jamie Wynne, who stretching for the ball, couldn't turn his effort goal bound.
The remainder of the half saw the Crusaders give up a lot of possession high up the field but did not let Dalton through. Their solid defensive shape limited the Roadrunners to set pieces into the box from range and a solitary shot all half.
They say soccer is a game of two halves and it proved it tonight. Dalton's lackluster first half performance and whatever was said at halftime seemed to have motivated the Roadrunners as they came out firing on all cylinders at the beginning of the second half. Dalton opened the second period with two shots and three corners in the opening eight minutes.
It was the third corner that proved to be the breakthrough. Leonardo Seixas fired an in-swinging corner from the left-hand side. The corner was not dealt with as it bounced in front of Antonio Bittencourt who fired the ball into the net from the edge of the six-yard box.
Six minutes later
The Roadrunners continued the onslaught as they kept firing balls into the Crusader box, hoping to create a chance to take the lead. Only six minutes later and Dalton took the lead for good. A Seixas free kick was well saved by
Henry Hampshaw who knocked the ball wide to Dalton's left. Bittencourt picked up the loose ball and crosses low for an oncoming Jun Demichelis who tapped home from eight yards out through a sea of bodies.
The second goal woke up the Crusaders as they finally began to grow into the second half. Carey started firing long balls into the channels looking for their wide players and long balls into their center forwards, hoping for knock ons and looking to take advantage of second balls. Despite this pressure and period of sustained possession the Crusaders were not able to test Leite.
With the Crusaders pushing numbers forward, Dalton took advantage of the lack of numbers in defense and the abundance of space behind the Carey back line. Mason Dalton played a ball over the top for former Crusader Jack Stainrod to run onto. Stainrod latched onto the through ball, drove inside the box, and drilled the ball low and hard at the near post past Hampshaw.
Carey continued their pressure in the last 17 minutes of the game but were unable to breakdown a stubborn Roadrunner defense who held firm. The Crusaders were unable to muster a shot on target in the second half despite their dominance in possession in the final 15 minutes.
The Crusaders now await their fate, as they look to secure an at-large bid for the NAIA National Tournament.
