This time it went the right way for the Allentown High School boys soccer team.
After falling to Princeton in the Central Jersey Group III finals each of the last two years, the Redbirds captured the elusive sectional title with a 2-1 overtime win over Wall last Friday.
Luis Ferreira scored with just under three minutes left in the first overtime to give the top-seeded Redbirds a win over sixth-seeded Wall. Allentown was scheduled to face Ocean City in the Group III state semifinals on Tuesday. With a win, the Redbirds would advance to the state final against either Chatham or Northern Highlands.
Allentown had forced overtime when Kevin Primich converted a penalty kick in the second half for his seventh goal of the season. That set the stage for Ferreira’s heroics on overtime.
”This is great,” Primich said. “It feels amazing right now. I’m so happy that all the hard work finally paid off for this season. We’ve all been really close and never actually won it, so it just feels so good.”
In the opening half, Allentown outshot the visitors, 12-2, but trailed 1-0 on a goal by Mike Commesso. The score was just the second allowed in the state tournament by Allentown, which has received outstanding goalkeeping from Josh Samuels.
”We had 90 percent of the possession and our defense broke down for a second, so we were mad,” Primich said. “But we knew we could get back into this and win it. So we just went out in the second half as hard as possible.”
The penalty kick got the Redbirds even and set the stage for overtime.
”I knew I was going to go right, but I saw him leaning to the left as soon as I was running up to kick it,” Primich said. “So I just placed it instead of trying to go over him.”
In overtime, Ferriera intercepted an attempted clear and found his way to the goal.
”I’m just happy to help the team out,” Ferriera said. “I played bad most of the time. Coach (Andrew Plunkett) told me to calm down and I did what I could.”
With the win, Ferriera and the Redbirds had a sectional title and a shot at playing for a state title.
”We are just focused on the next game,” he said. “Hopefully it will be even better.”
