MANCHESTER, NH – With a come-from-behind goal in the second half, the Trinity High School boys soccer team was able to force a a 2-2 tie with cross-city rival Manchester West in each team’s final Division-III regular season contest.
With the draw, the Blue Knights completed their campaign with an 8-4-4 record to lockup the a top-seven playoff seed, while Trinity solidified its hold on one of the final postseason spots with a 5-6-5 record.
“It looks like we’re in the playoffs, but we’re not going to have a seed high enough to have a home games, so this was the final home game for our seniors and they worked their tails off,” said second-year Trinity head coach Mark Papp.
And while it was the seniors’ night, it was junior Andrew Wood who put the Pioneers on the board in the first half and then scored the equalizer in the second half.
“We’ve had a couple results this season where we were on the other side, where we were up with not much time left and we gave up a goal to tie, so it’s much more enjoyable on this side of things,” said Papp.
Indeed, after giving up a goal on a penalty shot in the first half which led to the Trinity trailing at halftime, Papp said his team responded just as it should have.
“You never want to give up a penalty, but the boys battled back and our keeper made a few outstanding saves to keep the tie, so I’m proud of the boys,” he said. “That’s one thing we’ve tried to encourage and reward, is battling though adversity, so whether we’re up a goal or down a goal, we’ve got to keep the same intensity and they did that.”
The Blue Knights, said Papp, are going to be a tough out for whichever team draws them in the playoffs.
“They have a couple really technical players,” said Papp. “You can tell, they know the game and have been playing for a considerable amount of time.
“They’re able to keep the ball tight, so we knew you couldn’t just send one guy to the ball, it’s got to be pressure and cover, and whenever we didn’t have cover, they cooked us,” he said. “A number of times that second defender is who ended up winning the ball because they got past the first, so you’ve got to be very organized defensively when you have kids that technical.”
West had several quality scoring opportunities, especially in the first half, and West head coach Fernando Martinez said his players have been exceeding expectations all season and he’s proud they’re in the position they’re in.
Similarly, regardless of what happens in the playoffs, the Pioneers find themselves on an upward trajectory as Papp and company work to lead Trinity back to the championship contender it was when it won back-to-back D-III titles in 2020 and 2021.
“We’re measuring progress, not necessarily wins and losses,” said Papp. “We’ve seen progress in a lot of different areas, things that are measurable, and then things that are harder to measure, intangible stuff.”‘
Among those setting tone for Trinity this season, Teddy Geoffrey, Sonny Dubuque, John Alade, Thomas Hubbard and Jaike Cieslik were all honored for Senior Night Thursday.
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