The state final has been the ceiling that’s kept Fallston boys soccer down over the past decade, the roadblock it can’t get over and problem it can’t solve. The Cougars have now been on the cusp of the summit three times over the past six years, but haven’t reached the mountaintop.
Tuesday at UMBC represented their latest attempt at breaking through. But undefeated top-seed Glenelg was too much and handed Fallston a 4-0 loss in the Class 2A championship. Still, coaches and players alike are confident all these knocks at the door will soon lead to more.
“This is my 23rd year. I’m not wishing for 23 to be done, but 24 is going to be good,” coach Christopher Hoover said.
Three-seed Fallston allowed the game’s first goal with 31:23 to play in the first half past senior goalkeeper Lucas Clark, who suffered a concussion in Fallston’s state quarterfinal win but returned Tuesday. About 25 minutes of game time later, Glenelg went up 2-0 and took that lead into halftime. Fallston finished the opening half with no shots on goal.
The Cougars’ defense struggled to slow down the powerful Glenelg attack, which finished with more than a dozen shots on goal. James DeBose’s header opened the second half and put Fallston down three with just over 30 minutes remaining. Another score moments later widened that gap. When the clock ran out, Fallston’s shots on goal tally still read zero.
“I think we definitely could have done our plan better,” senior striker Levi Tanguay said. “Our plan was to play down the wings, get shots off. Definitely got in my head mentally a little. They were clapping my face. Shouldn’t have let that happen.”
“Their defense was really good,” Hoover said. “They anticipated where we were. Every time we got an opportunity for a cross and tried to build something, they got something on the ball to redirect it and stop us. It got frustrating.”
Tanguay checked out of the game with 23 minutes to play, then returned with 12 to go after Glenelg underwent nearly a full-field substitution. Perhaps it was to get the senior one final chance at a state championship score. It never came.
Fallston beat defending 2A state champion C. Milton Wright in the semifinals last week, a lengthy and exhausting game that went past two scoreless overtime periods and needed sudden death penalty kicks to decide a winner. Tanguay scored both of the Cougars’ regulation goals in that victory. Tuesday, his looks were limited.
After that game, Hoover joked about his team’s recent state championship struggles and the dilemma of always being in the mix but never getting to the top. “I’m damn well bound to get one soon,” he quipped then. That’ll have to wait at least another year.
“We got a lot of good players, hard workers,” Tanguay said. “They’re going to do their best to get back here.”
Hoover, never taking himself too seriously and able to laugh through tough losses, added: “It’s awesome to make deep runs in the playoffs. Super exciting. Gets your blood pumping. But it’s not the end result. Although I’m not saying I wouldn’t like to get this.”
Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.
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