Broadneck avenges only county boys soccer setback

Guy Skord was simply in the right place at the right time.

"I saw Tyler (Fernandez) get up higher than I've ever seen him get for a header." Skord said, "The ball came off a defender and somehow it was in front of me, right in front of the goal."

Skord's second-half goal was the difference as the top-seeded Bruins defeated South River, 2-1, in the Class 4A East Region semifinals. Broadneck, which hadn't been to the finals since it won the region in 2006, will host Leonardtown at 6 p.m. on Tuesday for the East title.

The victory was sweet revenge for the Bruins, who suffered their only in-county loss to South River in a 2-0 defeat on Oct. 8.

"We were embarrassed by them last time," Broadneck coach Sean Tettemer said. "We wanted to challenge them up and down the field and win every 50-50 ball."

The Bruins certainly dominated the 50-50 balls and looked very comfortable on their home turf, which plays slightly faster than South River's natural grass field.

Josh Schwartz got things started early for Broadneck, scoring on a penalty kick in the fifth minute.

The Bruins controlled possession - and the game - for the most of the first half. Outside of a few plays being broken up by Broadneck goalkeeper Cody Niedermeier, the Seahawks had no clean shots on goal in the first 40 minutes.

"We came out flat," South River coach Jeff Vincent said. "We were on our heels for the first 10 to 15 minutes of the game."

The second half started off much better for the Seahawks, who managed to put pressure on the Bruins' backfield for the first time.

Less than two minutes into the second half, South River's Jimmy Romero ripped a shot right over the keeper's head, however, Niedermeier was able to leap and tip it over the crossbar.

A few minutes later, the game was put on hold as South River sophomore Evan Young was carted off the field due to a serious leg injury.

Young's teammates responded as Anase N'Gadi poked in the game-tying goal with the ambulance still on the field's track.

For the next 10 minutes, Seahawks goalkeeper Jake Smith did his best to fend off the Bruins with four saves.

However, it was a throw-in with just more than 18 minutes left that led to Skord's game-winner. The ball was thrown in close to the Seahawks' goal, and Fernandez tried to head the ball in, but a defender got a piece of it, leaving it on a tee for Skord.

"Honestly, the game was decided on a lucky bounce," said Skord, who was a freshman on the 2006 Class 4A East Region championship team.

With about five minutes left, it appeared that the Seahawks had knotted the game again, but the referee ruled the ball had gone out of bounds prior to the shot.

"The only thing we are looking forward to is that the season is still alive," Tettemer said. "We are taking one game at a time."

South River (15-2) 0 1 - 1

Broadneck (13-2-1) 1 1 - 2

GOALS: SR - N'Gadi; BN - Schwartz, Skord. ASSISTS: BN - Fernandez. SAVES: SR - Smith 7; BN - Niedermeier 2. SHOTS: SR - 9; BN - 3. CORNERS: SR - 0; BN - 4.