See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
Poly Prep lost a chance to unseat the New York State Association of Independent Schools defending soccer champs last week as the Blue Devils fell to the Collegiate High School Dutchmen 2–0.
Collegiate’s Elias Bresnick headed in a cross in the 29th minute and Weller Hlinimaz rifled a shot into the top left corner to extend the lead in the 75th minute — shooting down any hopes that Poly Prep would snag the title the Dutchmen took from the team in 2010.
Yet, despite Collegiate High School’s dominance of the Manhattanville College field on Tuesday night, the Blue Devils say they could have taken the defending champs — if the soccer stars were aligned properly.
“We didn’t have much luck,” said Poly Prep coach Gerry Stone. “We needed some luck to beat these guys. We didn’t get it.”
The Blue Devils know how to win a championship — the team’s won two in the last six years and have been to the finals five times since 2006.
Stone says his team held a conservative mindset at the outset — a tactic that left the Blue Devils at a 1–0 deficit at the end of the first half.
“That was just worries about being killed,” said Stone.
But the team regrouped after the break with Poly’s best scoring chance coming at the 48th minute: Connor Doherty fed senior forward Dan Sullivan near the top of the box, but Sullivan hammered the shot off the inside of the right post, causing it to rebound out.
“I didn’t hit it hard enough. I didn’t whip it,” said Sullivan. “We got a little unlucky, but I felt like we could have beaten them. They are not undefeatable.”
Reach reporter Joseph Staszewski at jstaszewski@cnglocal.com. Follow him on twitter @cng_staszewski.