Generals follow Boudreau’s lead to 11th victory
Goal on second shot fuels Towson’s push to region final
It took two ticks under 10 minutes for the host Towson boys soccer team to get into the flow in the Class 3A North Region Section I finals against Lansdowne, but when Mitch Boudreau scored with 30:02 left in the first half, the No. 7 Generals came to life for a 4-0 triumph on Friday afternoon.
Boudreau’s shot, which was set up by a diagonal pass from Bryce Vanik, was only the second shot of the game for the Generals (11-1-2).
Lansdowne (7-6-1) had already had a corner, set up by a long ball by Tial Thawng and a high shot by Van Thang.
The Vikings also had a shot on goal by Brian Atchimon that was saved by Caden Fong before Towson generated a shot.
“We weren’t stringing many passes together and it seemed like the ball was on a magnet to the white jerseys,” Towson coach Randy Dase said. “Luckily, it didn’t happen down there (defensive end), but our keeper was a little bit more busy then their keeper in terms of picking up the ball, but we finally shook it off and I think we finished up on a more positive note which is good.”
Despite missing starting sophomore center defender Thau Hmu and midfielder Brandon Hernandez to injuries, the Vikings got solid defensive work early from Idriss Zouitina, David Barrera, Ai Ling and Thawng and midfielder Thang.
“I give credit to Lansdowne,” Dase said. “They played hard. They played tough, they were stringing passes together in the first half and clearing the ball out and the keeper had some very nice saves. They were winning 50-50 balls and we finished at the right time.”
Boudreau’s cross with 10:05 left in the half led to a goal by Rome Wainwright and the Generals threatened to get more, but they were denied by two outstanding saves by goalie Nick White (10 saves).
The first came after a high shot by Pearson Benassi and the second came after a corner kick from Vanik that was struck hard by Nick Lewis.
“I was just trying to come out with a win,”Lansdowne senior goalie White said.
White, who was in goal two years ago when Towson defeated the Vikings on penalty kicks in the regional finals, learned from that experience.
“I feel like the PKs was like a wake-up call because I saw that I was not as good at those as I would like to be, so I worked hard on those and I worked hard on my all-around game,” he said.
Towson has won11of14 games because of the skill of players like Boudreau and Vanik.
“He (Boudreau) is like the little welloiled machine,”Dase said. “Our boy, Bryce Vanik in the midfield, he controls the game for us. Bryce has been the heart and soul of this team. We depend on Bryce a lot, so I was pleased to see him do well.”
Vanik scored the Generals third goal and Towson's Ian Delviscio, right, jumps over Lansdowne goalie Nick White during the Generals’ 4-0 victory in the Class 3A North region, Section I final at Towson High on Friday. his shot off the crossbar, in the final minute, was kicked in by Benassi for the final score.
The Generals will play C. Milton Wright in the regional finals, possibly Monday or Wednesday because they can’t play on Election Day, Tuesday.