Brown makes right read and powers Glassboro into sectional semifinal
GLASSBORO – Sometimes it's just a guess.
This one was a read.
Marcus Brown's second and final save in the shootout came from his ability to recognize what was happening and respond quickly.
“It was kind of weird. I saw he was going to shoot with his right foot, and when he hit the ball, the front of his toe and his heel hit the ball,” Brown said. “So it went heel to toe and curved toward the middle.”
Brown dived to his left, got a palm on the ball and when he got to his feet, he was a South Jersey Group 1 semifinalist.
Glassboro won a shootout, 3-0 from Audubon after the teams battled to a 1-1 tie over 100 minutes Monday in their sectional quarterfinal. Emirhan Kir, Mathew Rodriguez and Atakan Ozdemir made their attempts for the Bulldogs. Audubon hit the first one high and wide. Brown saved the next two.
It was a curious development because the two biggest saves in regulation had come from Brown's counterpart, Audubon keeper Trent Bantle.
He leaped to smack Jayden Tossie's dipping 20-yard shot just over the crossbar in the first half. Near the end of the second overtime, Rodriguez brought down a restart in front of the net and finessed a shot through traffic toward the left post. Bantle was waiting there.
Those saves bookended a second-half exchange of goals. Jayden Tossie struck for Glassboro near the midway point.
Ozdemir muted a clearing attempt along the right side, then pounced on the loose ball, turned and launched it across the front of the net.
“I saw a back post run coming all along,” Tossie said. “Atakan Ozdemir gave me a good ball, back post. I saw the opportunity and took it; made a good touch and finished it in the corner.”
Audubon came in on a streak of seven straight shutouts. Tossie's goal was the first against the Green Wave since Oct. 6.
You'd think that would be a momentum changer, and you'd be right; Audubon needed less than two minutes to tie the game.
A restart from Hayden Wiltsey, about four yards outside the box, on the left side, found its way into the Bulldogs' net.
But neither team could build from there.
“The first half, I thought they took it to us, and then we got better,” Audubon coach Mike Tomasetti said. “I thought in the overtime we had the better (of the play). We had corner kicks. We had the ball down in their area. We just couldn't get one in. Our corner kicks have been working for us all year. They neutralized it.”
What it means
Glassboro, the second seed in the bracket, advanced to the sectional semifinal round. The Bulldogs will host third-seeded Penns Grove, a 2-1 winner over Buena, on Wednesday. Penns Grove beat Glassboro, 3-2, in the season opener for both teams. They battled to a 1-1 tie on Oct. 3.
Key play
Audubon's first corner of the game found Kaine Ugonna-Ufere high in the box. His header toward the net was flicked on by Tyler Wiltsey, but Brown leaped high to smack it away. An early goal might have made a huge difference, for a team on a streak of clean sheets.
By the numbers
Audubon's string of seven straight wins was its longest since 2014. That squad also won seven in a row and saw the streak end with a shootout. The 2014 team advanced, though, and won one more game.
Unsung heroes
Emirhan Kir of Glassboro, for his restarts. He nearly curled a corner into the net in the first half and he consistently found teammates in dangerous spots throughout the game.
For Audubon, it was Hayden Wiltsey; not just for his goal, but for mixing it up in some physical play in the midfield.
They said it
Alexis Mendoza, on going to the shootout:
“Honestly, never once did I doubt any one of my players. The five up that we had – we've been working on PKs and I had all the confidence in Marcus. He plays much bigger than what his size is. His heart's tremendous. He's been incredible and he's honestly grown to become a very fine young man.”
Tossie, on Audubon slowing down the play in overtime:
“I was thinking OK, let it go to a shootout. I knew we could do it. On the field, shootout – whatever it was, I knew we could do it.”
Tomasetti, on the 2022 Green Wave:
“This team is just a great bunch of kids. It's one of the best groups we've had in my 20 years here. These three seniors (Ugonna-Ufere, Tony Giordano and Hayden Wiltsey) gave everything. It's going to be tough to replace them.”
John A. Lewis is a sports writer for the Burlington County Times, the Courier Post and the Vineland Daily Journal. E-mail him at jlewis@thebct.com. Please consider supporting local journalism with a subscription.
This article originally appeared on Burlington County Times: Glassboro's Brown pitches shutout in shootout as Bulldogs advance
