It was an emotional team meeting for the Delta Streets boys soccer team after its 4-2 loss to Pillow Academy Monday night in a Division II West showdown.
The Lions held a 2-1 advantage over the Mustangs at the half, but Pillow was able to rattle off three straight unanswered goals to win the Division II West title and wrap up first place from the district for next week’s playoffs.
Tears flowed as DSA teammates wrapped arms around each other in efforts to console one another. Losing two games to the Mustangs, a team that many DSA players know well, hurt.
“We didn’t talk about it much. We had a lot of fun last week, and we had a lot of rest over the weekend. We came out and did our thing, unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough,” DSA coach Connor Altman said of his team’s preparation for facing division foe Pillow Academy for the second time this season.
The Lions (14-6, 3-3) started the game, which was held at Chazzy Moor Field, with a ferocious intensity. DSA dominated the ball early, taking multiple shots on goal as DSA’s Danny Vargas found the back of the net first in the game at the 22:25 mark.
Soon after, Pillow’s Lawson Harvey drilled a goal to tie the game at 1-1 with 15:35 left in the first half. The teams continued to battle, and DSA’s Elian Ortiz’ goal at 2:33 gave the Lions a 2-1 lead heading into the half.
Pillow came out of the break and tied the game 2-2 within six minutes off a beautiful header by Harvey that was assisted by Ruben Martinez. Serafin Simon III scored Pillow’s third goal off a free kick at the 27-minute mark, and Harvey’s goal at 14:40, assisted by Hunter Barry, sealed the top spot in the playoffs for Pillow.
Pillow coach Serafin Simon gives the credit of his team’s second-half comeback to the talk he gave them at halftime.
“Sometimes these guys need a good pep talk just to wake them up a little bit. They’ve always been like that, and they’ve always responded like they responded (Monday) — and I’m proud of that,” Simon said.
The Mustangs (16-4, 5-1), as the one seed from D-II, will get home-field advantage in the playoffs, which is something that Simon said ‘means a lot to this team.’
“We don’t have to travel, we don’t have to sit on a bus for two hours or so. We just sit here and wait on the next opponent and go from there,” Simon said.
Delta Streets’ loss to Pillow doesn’t knock them out of the playoffs, although it does take the matter out of their hands. The Lions must wait for the results of Washington School’s game against Bayou Academy Wednesday.
If Washington loses, DSA gets into the playoffs as the second seed.
If Washington wins it would have a better district record than DSA, taking the second seed in the district and eliminating the Lions.
Altman said he is rooting for Bayou, and said if his team gets into the playoffs, they’ll be ready to go.
“We’re no stranger to the playoffs. We’ve made state championship runs in the previous two years,” Altman said. “The playoffs are not new to us, so our guys know what it takes.”
-Contact Jared Conerly at 662-581-7237 or jconerly@gwcommonwealth.com.
