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Sports

Mineola Soccer Stalls Against Jericho 2-1 in Playoffs

Jayhawks oust Mustangs from soccer playoffs for second year in a row.

After an up-and-down season, the Mineola Mustangs lost their horsepower Friday afternoon, dropping 2-0 to the Jericho Jayhawks in the opening round of the Class A soccer playoffs at Mineola high school.

Entering the tournament following a 2-0 victory over Island Trees, the Mustangs opened the game by allowing a Jericho goal after only a few minutes.

On the fourth corner for Jericho in the opening minutes, Scott Freudenthal netted a rebound goal after senior keeper Filipe Ribeiro had fallen to the ground stopping the first corner shot.

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The Mustangs were able to answer two minutes later, as junior Paul Sandoval kicked a laser from just outside the 18-yard box. Taking a wild turn in the air, the ball went right over the top of Jericho keeper Ben Rechler.

However, Jericho was able to take advantage of a poorly played ball by Mineola's Denis Lazo-Cruz as the junior's attempted clearance pass caught a gust and went straight up. It was then that Jayhawk Sahir Raoof gathered the ball as it hit the ground, and was able to deflect it off a charging Ribeiro for a 2-1 lead.

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The weather seemed to be against the Mustangs the entire game. Senior Marco Oliveira almost found an equalizer towards the end of the first half taking a header from junior Dan Muller. Going up to meet the ball, Oliveira managed to get a head on it, but bad aiming and strong winds pushed the ball up in the air and Rechler came down with the save.

"The weather conditions didn't help us," Mineola coach Paul Pereira said after the game. "We never really got it going."

After the half the Mustangs continued to tried and push the ball up the field through the air, not finding any luck.

The closest the Mustang's managed came off a free-kick by junior Christian Lird, but his effort went over the crossbar and out of harms way. "We just came out flat in the second half," Pereira said, "the first goal was tough to let up. They had good clock-management."

It was the second year in a row that Jericho has knocked Mineola out of the tournament, and the third time in five years. The Mustang's end their season with an 8-3-2 record.

"A good portion of our core is returning," Pereira said, already looking towards the 2011 season. "I'm looking forward to being in the thick of it again."

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