Boys' Soccer: River Hill Defeats Centennial 2-0, Advances to Regional Semifinals

Coach Matt Shagogue gathered his River Hill team together before they took the field to play the Centennial Eagles in a region 3A East quarterfinal game. 

Eleven days earlier, in the last game of the regular season, River Hill had lost to Marriotts Ridge, 2-1, and given Wilde Lake sole possession of the county title as a result. The Hawks had finished the regular season with a 9-1-1 county record that included six shutout wins.

Now, as Shagogue prepared to speak to his team, none of that mattered.

It was playoff time. Win and you advance to play another game. Lose and your season is over. It was that simple.

"The second season starts today," said Shagogue to his team. "Yesterday was not our last practice. Today is not our last game. Go out there and jump on them early."

That's exactly what River Hill did.

Just over two minutes into the game, junior Jack Noonan dribbled down the right side of the field and crossed the ball into the box to junior Tomi Williams. In one fluid motion, Williams controlled the ball, turned and passed to an open Jake Turney, who was standing just in front of the opposite goal post. Turney, a freshman, connected with the ball, sending it into the back of the net with one touch.

River Hill nearly scored again a short time later. Senior co-captain Tommy Krug broke free with the ball down one side of the field and passed to fellow senior co-captain Matt Kaiser, who fired a hard shot on goal that was stopped by Centennial's 6-foot-8 goalkeeper, senior Aaron Russell.

Then on a corner kick just over 10 minutes into the game, Krug made a short pass to Noonan, who immediately passed the ball back. Krug sent a cross to Turney, who headed the ball on goal but didn't score.

Centennial wouldn't be dominated so easily, though. The Eagles stepped-up their intensity, gradually increasing the pressure they placed on the River Hill defense as the half progressed. However, each time they shot on goal the ball went way wide.

The Eagles' best scoring opportunity of the first half came when junior Andrey Pavlov broke free in the River Hill penalty box with a little more than three minutes remaining and found himself uncontested facing junior goalkeeper Nick Voyton.

However, like all of Centennial's earlier shooting efforts, the ball was shot wide of the goal.

River Hill answered right back with an offensive drive of their own in the waning minutes of the first half.

It would put them back on the scoreboard.

As Williams went after a loose ball in the box, Russell slid out to grab the ball, knocking Williams over in the process. This set up a penalty kick. Krug placed the ball in the left corner of the net. Russell, guessing wrong, dove to the right.

"We were very fortunate to get an early goal and very fortunate to get one at the end [of the half], because Centennial really outplayed us the entire first half," said Shagogue. "I know it's a tough thing to say when you're up 2-0 at halftime, but they had a ton of possessions and a number of good opportunities at goal."

Krug agreed with his coach's assessment of the first half.

"I think we came out pretty well, got the first goal, and then we slowed down a lot after that, kind of relaxed, and they dominated the first half," said Krug. "We got lucky to get the second goal the way we did on a penalty kick because they really had been controlling the game up to that point."

Shagogue told his team at halftime that they needed to change their style of play.

"There were a lot of times we were getting the ball and just kicking it," he said.  "I told them they needed to calm down, find feet, use the width of the field, open up space a little bit, and then we can move forward as a unit. This was instead of just kicking the ball over the top and chasing it."

Before the start of the second half, Shagogue gathered his team around, just as he had before the start of the game.

"Put them away," he said.

River Hill immediately put pressure on the Centennial defense, taking several shots on goal in the opening minutes of the second half.

Centennial answered right back with a drive of their own, as senior Aaron Adams passed to senior Cody Jaeger. Voyton, in his first serious test of the game, slid out and grabbed the ball in an impressive save, injuring himself in the process. (He was briefly replaced by senior Ryan Healy.)

Centennial continued to have scoring opportunities throughout the second half but could not find the back of the net. The shots, for the most part, either went over the crossbar or were stopped by Voyton.

When the final whistle blew, River Hill had recorded their seventh shutout this year in 12 games against county opponents.

"Nick made some great saves," said Shagogue. "He has done this for us all year."

River Hill's next playoff game will be against this Friday, a team they beat 1-0 in the regular season. Atholton won their regional quarterfinal game 2-0 against Stephen Decatur. Both River Hill and Atholton received byes in the first round of the state championship tournament.

"Atholton has a stingy defense," said Shagogue. "They are a really good team and will be tough to beat. We have two days to prepare for them and give them our best. There will be no easy games."