Crows Capture Pittsfield Soccer League Crown
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| Crows keeper Cale Rathburn had the save of the match in the penalty kick shootout. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Cale Rathburn made the only save of a penalty kick shootout on Wednesday night to send the Crows past the Maroon to claim the summer championship of the Pittsfield Soccer League.
The Crows saw a 1-0 lead evaporate in the closing minutes of the second half but rallied to hold off the Maroon through two five-minute overtimes to get to the shootout.
It was 4-4 going into the fifth round of PKs before Rahburn, who made six saves in the 50-minute regulation time, got all of Camilo Bermudez’ attempt to give the Crows an opening.
Reinaldo Castro then sealed the deal with a low liner past Maroon keeper Jeff Egan, who guessed the wrong way on his dive.
The victory gave the Crows a measure of redemption in the seven-on-seven co-ed league at Wahconah Park.
“We lost to them in the semi-finals last year,” Crows captain Darren Consolati said. “And they ended up winning the whole thing. So, yeah, we definitely had revenge on our mind.
“It was close. We barely pulled it out.”
It was a lot closer in the end than it seemed in the first half.
The Crows came out and dominated the opening stages, earning a 7-3 edge in shots on goal., but thanks to some big saves by Egan, it remained a scoreless game at half-time.
In the ninth minute of the second half, Elia DelMolino headed home a cross from the left wing to give the Crows a one-goal lead.
“They came out and played hard,” Maroon captain Brian Seminara said of the Crows. “But we kept pushing as hard as we could. … Unfortunately, we were missing a couple of people tonight, but it was a pretty good match.”
The Maroon’s comeback effort was rewarded in the 48th minute of the game when Dennis Penny set up Brady Mickle for the equalizer.
Neither team gave up a strong scoring chance in the overtime periods, which sent it to the shootout, where Rathburn made the difference.
“He’s been huge,” Consolati said. “I think he’s let in five goals all year. Today was his fifth goal [allowed].”
No one was happier than Consolati that Rathburn made the save of the match in the shootout.
“I thought it was going to keep going and I was going to have to shoot,” he said with a laugh. “Thank God that didn’t happen.”
