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Backup Keeper Comes Up Big In PKs To Lead McMahon To Quarterfinal Win Over Ludlowe
John Nash Reporting From Fairfield
10.23.2024
For 100 minutes, as the temperature fell and the intensity heated up, Brien McMahon backup goalkeeper Joel Hernandez watched his team Fairfield Ludlowe in tonight’s FCIAC boys soccer quarterfinal at Taft Field.
When Hernandez finally got the chance to step into the spotlight, he made the most of it.
After two 40-minute halves and two 10-minute overtime periods, the junior reserve took to the field for the penalty kick portion of the contest and came up with three huge saves in fifth-seeded McMahon’s 1-1 (3-2 PK) victory over the No. 4 Falcons.
“I was just out there having fun,” Hernandez said. “I got no pressure. I was smiling the whole time. I’m used to (penalty kicks). I’ve been in situations with a lot more pressure than that.”
In fact, Hernandez is on the Guatemalan U-17 National, so he’s used to the stress of international competitions, so an FCIAC quarterfinal was just another game.
“I’ve just felt like I’ve played at such high levels that I just don’t really press when I get to play with these guys,” he said. “I just wanted to do it for my teammates.”
All McMahon coach Rodrigo Guzman knew is that when the Senators practice penalty kicks, Hernandez comes up with a lot of saves.
“We knew that if we were going to penalties he was going to be the one,” Guzman said. “He’s just special. We practice these all year long and he’s been the best one.”
Through two rounds of penalty kicks, both teams were 2-for-2 as Ludlowe’s Ian Moore and Charlies Jones matched McMahon’s David Romero and Aiden Alvaran with scores.
With Hernandez making three straight saves against Ludlowe’s final three shooters, it was William Chang who gave the Senators (11-5-1) that edge with a goal that made it 3-2.
The win — the fifth-seeded Senators’ ninth in their last 11 games — thrust them into Saturday’s semifinals against top-seeded Greenwich, a 1-0 winner over No. 8 Ridgefield.
Ludlowe dropped to 8-5-2 and will prepare for the state tournament, according to coach Kevin O’Hara.
“My history with PKs hasn’t been very good,” O’Hara said. “Last year we got one against Ridgefield, but Ludlowe just doesn’t have that track record unfortunately. This is another opportunity to learn from it and we’ll take a couple of days off here, get ready for the state tournament and see if they learn something from it.”
It was the Falcons who struck first in the game, taking a 1-0 lead midway through the first half. Justin Manatch sent a long direct kick into the box, where Sean Malecky got a head on the ball and sent a shot on goal.
McMahon’s starting goalkeeper Massimo Ruffo (7 saves) blocked the shot, but Cooper Sicre followed up on the rebound and buried it into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
All four of McMahon’s first-half shots, however, came from outside of 25 yards, so Guzman made a halftime adjustment in hopes of generating more offensive push.
“I’ll be honest with you. We started the game with just one forward and at halftime we started two forwards and that’s how we started penetrating a little more,” Guzman said.
With 6:34 to play, the Senators finally got the opening they needed as Eli Castillero-Gomez found a seam and pushed the ball into the box. The right-footed sophomore then went left-footed to put a short-side shot on goal that found room away from Ludlowe goalie’s Chase McCormack’s hands to tie the game at 1-1.
“The player that scored the goal for us, he’s only a sophomore, but we know he can score with the best of them,” Guzman said. “We told him, ‘Take it to the house and take a shot’ and that’s what happened.”
Castillero-Gomez was happy to get the opportunity.
“My mind just went blank after that goal. I mean we made history here,” he said, referring to the fact that the win was McMahon’s first FCIAC playoff victory in at least 20 years. “I just have to thank the guys. Everybody believes in me; coach believes in me. My brother and I are always shooting in the backyard and we just shoot wherever we can.”
The Falcons almost snatched a victory in the closing seconds of the second overtime period when Brendan Walsh put one last shot on goal, but Ruffo was there to make one last stop before giving way to Hernandez.
“He just said, ‘You got this,’ and I told him I’d do it for him, since he’s a senior,” Hernandez said. “I did it for all my seniors.”
And now those seniors get to play in one more FCIAC playoff game.
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