“It’s disappointing.”
Words were spoken by Station Camp head coach Jeremy Cooke Tuesday evening following their blowout 4-1 loss in the Class AAA State Tournament Quarterfinals.
The Bison end their season 15-1-6, a solid showing for any program, but for the Bison, soccer season will forever be judged on how far you go in the postseason, not the number of wins and losses you earn.
“Give credit to Houston, they came out ready to play, and we didn’t,” Cooke said after the loss.
Looking to win their third state title in five years, Station Camp opened their 2021 state tournament with a tough draw, the Houston Mustangs.
The Bison would play the first 60 minutes without senior leader Evan Czerwinski to make things more complicated.
Czerwinski suffered an ankle injury in the Bison’s 4-0 sectional victory over Brentwood on Saturday, May 22, and looked ready to play Tuesday, but the senior reaggravated the injury forcing him to miss the majority of the match.
“Huge loss,” Cooke said. “He is the center of our defense, a leader and one we have depended on all season, and a few minutes before the game, they tell me he is out — it was tough.”
Houston struck first on a header from RJ Jordan on the Mustangs’ first corner kick of the evening. Jordan skied above the rest before beating sophomore keeper Turtle Sanchez for the early 1-0 lead.
The Mustangs carried a one goal lead into the break and for the first 16 minutes of the second half before Jackobey Johnson put the black and white up two goals on an Everett Furnas pass following a misplay on the defensive end by the Bison.
Smelling blood in the water, Houston put on more steam and added their third goal of the game three minutes later on a beautifully set piece from 35 yards out before finding the foot of Aaron O’Malley.
“The boys were ready to play when we left; I’m not sure what happened between the bus ride and the walk over here, but I thought we would settle in, but it never happened. We needed guys to step up and take over and that didn’t happen,” Cooke said.
Houston drove the nail in the coffin with six minutes remaining for their fourth and final goal of the match.
Station Camp scored their only goal of the game on a Cade MacLean shot following a Landon Sarduy assist.
“This senior class has been awesome all year,” Cooke said. “At the end, they pulled together and got us to the state tournament; they played for last year’s seniors and overall was a great group to have around. We won’t understand how great they were until we don’t have them next year.”
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