Today, Friday, November 06, 2009, East’s varsity boys’ soccer team visited Lenape High School to take on the Lenape Indians in the second round of the NJSIAA State Playoffs. Coming off a 3-0 first round playoff win over Shawnee this past Tuesday, the Cougars had a ton of momentum going into the match-up.

Early on in the game, neither team controlled possession of the ball for a considerable amount of time, resulting in very few scoring chances.

About halfway through the first half, Lenape broke the scoring deadlock when forward John Brawner (‘11) came off the bench and placed the ball just inside the right goal post, giving Lenape a 1-0 lead. Initially, Brawner’s kick looked as if it was going to miss the net completely and go out of bounds for an East goal kick. But East goalie Mike Randall (’10) was out of position on the shot due to miscommunication with East defenders and the ball managed to sneak in.

“It looked like [Brawner] didn’t get all of it and [his kick] was a slow roller, and then it just went in. I thought it was going out of bounds,” said East forward Brian Thompson (’10).

Brawners’s goal was all Lenape would need, as the Cougars struggled to put together any serious scoring opportunities for the duration of the game. In the last minute of play, Lenape forward Rocco Gambino (‘10) lobbed the ball over Randall’s head for a goal, making the score 2-0 and solidifying the win for Lenape.

The loss against Lenape was East’s first loss in eleven games and pushes the Cougars’ final season record to 11-4-2.

Courtesy of Karina Korneyeva (’10)/ Eastside Photo Director