Rockies’ great season comes to an end
GOSHEN — All good things must come to an end and that happened to the Plymouth Rockies boys soccer team’s historic season in the semifinal round of the Class 3A Goshen Regional Saturday morning, losing to Chesterton, 2-0.
“I feel really sad for them right now because this was a special season for them,” said former Rockies head coach and current PHS vice principal Josh Martin, who was filling for head coach Grant Masson while he continues his quarantine due to contact tracing for the coronavirus. “We had hope to be playing for a regional championship and into semi-state next week. We thought we had the stuff to make it happen. This Goshen Regional is really brutal though. There are a lot of good teams feeding into it.”
Third-ranked Chesterton was one of three in the four-team field ranked in the top 10 (Plymouth coming in at No. 7) and showed why with two first-half goals, while shutting down the Rockies’ potent offense.
The Trojans put pressure on the Rockies right away, getting a shot past keeper Fernando Pacheco in the fourth minute, but defender Marco Diaz was able to cover and sent the ball safely out. The defense couldn’t stop two long through balls though, both sent by senior Nick Biel, one to leading scorer Zack Bowser in the 25th minute and the second coming just three minutes before halftime to Gage Torres.
“We talked about having a balance between a high press and getting back behind the ball,” Martin said of Plymouth’s defensive strategy. “Coach Masson did his homework. His scouting report was dead-on. We knew that Bowser and (Josh) Wadowski had a lot of speed. We wanted to put pressure on the midfield so they couldn’t play those long balls. We gave Biel too much space and we were marking their forwards a little too tight and they got in behind us. We decided at halftime to give them a little more cushion because of their wheels, but the damage had already been done. We kept them away from our goal for the most part except for those two long through balls. We knew it would be trouble if Bowser got behind us.”
Although Plymouth outshot Chesterton, 25-13, most of the Rockies’ shots were rushed, from further out that desired or both.
“We knew their keeper (senior Charlie Eaton) was really good in the air and they have really good backs,” continued Martin. “We wanted our deliveries in the box to be on the ground, but I think the guys were a little anxious and we kept playing long crosses in. The 30-yard shots would have
to be something special to beat Eaton from that far out. Some of our good opportunities were when we would drive into the box and getting some combinations in closer, but they were a really well organized defense and it was hard to break them down. They sent multiple people at (Plymouth leading scorer forward) Selvin (Pagoada) when he got the ball and he did not have a lot of room to operate.”
The Rockies’ best scoring opportunity came in the 28th minute, when Pagoada made a strong move in the middle of the field just inside the box, but Eaton made a diving stop on his shot attempt.
“It was a super amazing year for the team,” concluded Martin. “This is a group that is super technical, really aggressive, they play hard, the defense was solid and they were fun to watch offensively.”
The loss was the only one on the Plymouth ledger for the whole season (17-1-1) and the Rockies won the NLC for the first time since 1996.
• CHESTERTON 2, PLYMOUTH 0
Class 3A Regional semifinal
At Goshen
C - Zack Bowser (Nick Biel) 25th min
C - Gage Torres (Biel) 37th min
Shots: Plymouth 25, Chesterton 13
Saves: Plymouth 4 (Fernando Pacheco), Chesterton 15 (Charlie Eaton)
Fouls: Plymouth 9, Chesterton 9
Corner kicks: Plymouth 5, Chesterton 6
Yellow cards: Plymouth 1 (Cardona), Chesterton none Records: Plymouth 17-1-1 (final) vs Chesterton 18-2