Cougars take down Falcons
Mell’s OT goal lifts Stoney Creek to district win over Rochester
The host Stoney Creek Cougars scored late in the second overtime to defeat theRochester Falcons 2-1 in the opening round of the Division 1 state playoffs.
Ayden Mell got the game winner with 3:24 remaining in the second overtime, scoring from close range to propel the Cougars into the second round.
“Wewanted toendthegame. We didn’t want it to go to (penalty kicks), so we knewwe had to score,” Mell said. “Our captain Mikey Puchalski headed it back, it bounced to my left, and I knew I couldn’t bring it down. So I just turned, kind of scissor kicked and lucky the goalie wasn’t over to the left side. But it felt good. It felt really good.”
“Every cliche in the book with a rivalry game. You can throw out records, whatever. That’s a really good team that beat us tonight. I thought we played really well most of the game, had some unfortunate bounces with that second goal,” Rochester head coach Chris Purgatori said. “We knew eventually it would come down tominutes, seconds, and overtime we thought was definitely in the cards.”
The goal seemed a bit overdue for Stoney Creek who had dominated both overtimes. The Cougars had eight total shots in the overtimes, including three on frame, compared to just three shots for the Falcons, all ofwhich were off target
he teams went back and forth all through regulation with each team getting their share of chances. The Rochester midfield caused the Cougars problems for much of the night, leading quick strike attacks that often penetrated
deep into the Stoney Creek end. But the Cougar defense, along with goalkeeper Tommy Kim came up big in the box, cutting off many of those attacks and clearing them without giving up a shot.
Meanwhi le, Stoney Creek generally had the better of possession and would go on to create more shots on goal, but goalkeeper Tommy Farrell came up with eight saves on the evening to keep the Falcons hanging around.
“I thought we had some great opportunities, ones that either missed themark or somebody just needed to be in that position and just came up a little bit too late,” Cougars head coach Bryan Mittelstadt said.
The Cougars had opened the scoring when Gaetano Lochirco latched on to a failed clearing attempt and fired it right back in, picking the top left corner of the net with 22:31 left in the first half.
The Falcons would even the score in the second half when Carlito Ankawi bent a free kick from the left corner into the net.
With the win, Stoney Creek improves to 8-2- 5 overall and extends their unbeaten streak to 12 games. The Cougars will face Utica Eisenhower on Monday in a game that will be a rematch of last year’s district opener that Eisenhower won in a shootout.
Rochester finishes the year 7- 6-1.
“In the end, I’m just proud of the way that they fought and handled the adversity all year,” Purgatori said. “They’re going to be successful in life no matter what they do.”