GEORGETOWN — Duncanville players sat despondently on the bench in the waning minutes of Friday’s state semifinal game. Their head coach Nuno Passos stood with his hands on his knees.
Not even a miracle like Nathanael Zozaya’s last-minute bicycle kick could save them against reigning state champion Katy Seven Lakes (24-1-2) in the state semifinal.
Duncanville (20-3-3) never found a way through in a 2-0 loss at Birkelbach Field. Panthers senior midfielder Eduardo Alaniz came close to scoring a wonder-goal twice in the first half. But Noa Stasic’s marker in the 44th minute stood as the winner.
“You got to make plays at this level, and their keeper made three plays,” Passos said. “For me, everybody played hard. They were just a little bit better, but their man of the match was the keeper making three crazy saves.”
Duncanville reached the state tournament this year for the fourth time in program history and first since 1986, the year it won its only boys soccer state championship. Holding a strong defensive identity, the Panthers allowed three goals in six playoff matches, including Friday’s state semifinal. It wasn’t enough.
“Now that we’re at this level and the kids got a taste of it, you’d hope they would want to get back to it, but it’s hard to get to this level,” Passos said. “Things have to bounce and roll your way, and we got some bounces and some rolls but we didn’t get them tonight, and to get to the state championship game, you have to get that bounce.”
Stasic broke the seal less than four minutes into the second half after a scoreless opening 40 minutes of play. His first-touch turn moved a Duncanville defender out of position, and Stasic placed his shot into the bottom left corner.
From there, Passos said it was a question of when Duncanville needed to push forward. He made the substitutions to look for an equalizer 15 minutes into the second half, and with more space, Seven Lakes struck again.
Eduardo Davalillo added scoreline separation in the 70th minute. An incisive ball by last year’s All-Greater Houston Boys Soccer Player of the Year, Kortay Koc, found Daniel Ejerenwa, who dished it across the box to Davalillo for a tap-in.
“That’s the thing as a coach where you know, we didn’t get here by trying to outscore people,” Passos said. “We got here not allowing people to score on us, and they scored, and we maybe went a little bit too early. But at the end of the day, their keeper made three saves. … This game could have easily been 1-1 or 2-1.”
Though scoreless at halftime, the sides traded plenty of chances throughout the first half. Duncanville led in shots (7-5) and shots on goal (4-2) despite Seven Lakes controlling possession of the ball.
The Panthers nearly scored twice against the run of play, both times via Alaniz. His waist-high half-volley from just outside the box dipped and skipped off the top of the crossbar. Alaniz took another long-distance effort late in the half that Seven Lakes keeper Benjamin Aviles parried off the bar and out.
Then in the 35th minute, Aviles left a rebound from Duncanville junior Mouhamed Gueye’s attempt and lay sideways on the ground. Fabricio Martinez couldn’t flip the ball over the prone Aviles, and Duncanville remained scoreless.
“I think [our gameplan] worked,” Passos said. “We were a little bit slow to start, but we still had two really good chances.”
A desperate Panthers team nearly found one goal back in the 74th minute. The ball fell to Alaniz unmarked beside the penalty spot, and he fired a low shot trying to split the goalkeeper and a defender on the line. But even that couldn’t find a way through.
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