After coming away with a 4-2 win against Portal High School in the quarterfinals of the GHSA Class A-Public tournament last week, the Lake Oconee Academy Titans soccer team lost a heartbreaker to the Drew Charter Eagles this past Friday.
It was a tale of two halves just like their Elite 8 match was. Against Portal, Lake Oconee Academy trailed 1-0 at halftime and 2-0 before the Titans finally got on the board.
They continued to press high up the pitch and were able to score four unanswered goals on the Panthers to surge into the semifinal match against Drew Charter.
Similarly, the first 40 minutes against the Eagles were evenly matched, and both teams went into the locker rooms at halftime scoreless.
Within a minute of the second half starting, Lake Oconee Academy was able to find the back of the net for the first goal of the game. The Titans led 1-0 up until the midway point in the second half when Drew Charter answered with another goal to tie it up, 1-1.
Titans head coach Conner Domaleski acknowledged the backand-forth nature of the match and credited Drew Charter for their game plan.
“I feel like if we played that game 100 times, we would win 50 times and they would win 50 times,” Domaleski said. “Unfortunately they were the team that stole the points that day and ultimately they put a lot of pressure on our guys and it was tough.”
Drew Charter did a better job of controlling the ball throughout the second half, which made it easier for it to get set up defensively. The Titans struggled to get guys forward as the game winded down.
Titans senior Kyle Beasley intercepted a pass between two Eagle defenders late in the game to score their second goal to push ahead 2-1.
However, with just under two minutes left to go in the game, the Eagles tied it up at 2-2. Domaleski credited Drew Charter’s ability to defend.
“We weren’t able to attack as much as we wanted with our top three. A lot of times it was individual efforts, but regardless of how good you are, it’s hard to score one-on-three,” Domaleski said. In the last two minutes,
In the last two minutes, the Titans got the opportunity they wanted after the Eagles’ second goalscorer ripped off his jersey during the celebration and received his second yellow of the match.
Lake Oconee Academy tried to push up the field for a late goal, but it was Drew Charter that found the back of the net last. With 0:54 seconds left, the Eagles found their way into the box to find the back of the net for the second time in a minute.
The Titans were unable to overcome the late goal from the Eagles, but Domaleski was proud of his team before they even stepped on the pitch.
“Going into the game, I was definitely hungry to get to the state finals, but I was also, in a weird way, somewhat satisfied to have already gotten there,” Domaleski said. “They blew me away with what this group was able to accomplish this year.”
The Titans ended their 2022 campaign with a 15-4 record: the best in program history. They will be returning most of the roster next year in hopes to repeat another deep playoff run.