Kerschen, Mustangs cap 3-match set
Junior's late goal lifts Mullen past Smoky Hill 4-3; 'Stangs finished 6-1 in league and await the loop tournament that begins on Tuesday, probably against Smoky Hill ... again.
He stood on the home pitch as dusk on Saturday arrived, exhausted, shoeless and sporting a strawberry brush burn, an open wound at the outer top of his left thigh reminiscent of a major-league base-stealer, back in the era when sliding head first was a no-no.
But it was a very satisfied Eli Kerschen. Just a few minutes earlier, he scored the game-winner for Mullen in a much-needed 4-3 victory over visiting Smoky Hill in the Centennial League. The Mustangs, who were without leading scorer A.J. Gamueda and playing their third match in three days -- including Friday’s double-overtime thriller -- because of Colorado’s fickle spring weather as well as the strange nuances of the new Season C, moved to 6-1 overall and in league heading into the three-game Centennial tournament that will begin on Tuesday.
“It was crazy and we’re all super tired,” Kerschen said.
The junior took a long pass from keeper Andrew McGrath and lofted it over the Smoky Hill net minder in the 76th minute to win it.
“I was just making those runs over and over again,” Kerschen said of sprinting to the offensive zone. “That was the game plan in the second half, we wanted to (isolate) me with their back … I was just making run after run after run. I saw (McGrath) got the ball and immediately made that run again. It was just one touch. I knew I could pop it right over (the keeper’s) head.”
Said McGrath: “I saw him running through the gap and I knew he was going to put it away.”
Head coach Matthew Guglielmo called it “a great goal and I knew it was coming ... he kind of went dry bones, he had some opportunities …. I just kept saying, ‘You’re due, you’re due, you’re due.’ We lose this game and it was going to be tough (for the league tournament and advancing to the Class 4A playoffs).”
Mullen had a couple of leads in the first half only to have 5A Smoky Hill (1-6, but a very game 1-6) tie it at 3 on two late goals. Cole Dempsey, Alex Evans and Andrew DeBerardinis scored for the Mustangs.
Each team had assorted chances for a fourth goal, including when a Buffaloes bid 10 minutes into the second half was turned away by McGrath, who dove to his right, knocked away the shot and clanged his head off the post.
“I stopped the ball, though,” he said with a smile.
Mullen missed Gamueda for a second straight match due to his quarantine with exposure to the coronavirus (COVID-19) as well as midfielder Eddie Roth, still sidelined with injury.
Kerschen, who also had two assists, said the victory was for Gamueda as they await his return and “the one thing to take away from this game is the heart we have.”
Technically, Mullen tied with Grandview for the league title and is the No. 2 seed in the loop tournament. It lost 3-0 to the Wolves on Thursday. The Mustangs also led the league in scoring (25 goals) and were hit for only nine scores, good for third-fewest with Cherry Creek. Smoky Hill had entered Saturday’s match permitting only 10 goals.
The Mustangs are expected to host No. 7 Smoky Hill again on Tuesday, time TBA.
MULLEN 4, SMOKY HILL 3
Smoky Hill 3 0 -- 3
Mullen 3 1 -- 4
MULLEN SCORING
Goals – Cole Dempsey, Alex Evans, Andrew DeBerardinis, Eli Kerschen.
Assists – Eli Kerschen 2, Paddy Bradley. Andrew McGrath.
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