Sharpshooters - 3 BUSS - 2

It was a great night for soccer at North French for our Tehel Cup semifinal vs BUSS. The Sharpshooters had 16 players, but were missing some key players in the Campana brothers, Oliver Jackson and Travis Lang. I believe BUSS had 15 players. We controlled play early on and had a few good chances to take the lead early, but saw 3 or 4 shots go over the crossbar. Having played so many games on turf, I think it took us a little while to adjust to the grass. We failed to capitalize on our chances and BUSS began to turn things around. They got us on our heels for a while and had a few good chances. BUSS earned a PK which we were fortunate to see go wide. After the missed PK, Zack Schwartz got fouled at the top of the 18. Brendan Lawler stepped up and curled the free kick over the wall and in to make it 1-0. BUSS answered about 5 minutes later when one of their fast forwards got behind our defense and chipped our keeper. It was a good run and a really nice finish. 1-1 at the half.

At halftime we felt that we could win the game if we played smarter in the second half. We had a few more chances in the 2nd half. Brendan Lawler had 2 good free kicks that the keeper was able to make nice saves to keep out. Yony was able to capitalize for BUSS on a defensive error and give them a 2-1 lead midway through the 2nd half. Brendan almost answered again with a ridiculous turning volley from outside the 18 that smacked off the corner of the post and the crossbar. With about 7 minutes to go, Brendan served a ball through the box which no one was able to meet, but Mike Schiappa saved the cross from going out of bounds. Mike beat the defender down the end line and served a ball to Ben Mozg in front of the net who scored to tie the game. After equalizing, I felt good about our chances to win. In stoppage time, Jason Harris played Zack Schwartz a through ball down the right wing. From a tight angle, Zack's shot found the far side netting for the game winner.

Good game from BUSS. They fought hard and had a few dangerous guys up front. I think they'll do well in Championship next year assuming they hang on to some of their more talented players. While there was a lot of pretty obvious time wasting from their goalkeeper, it just ended up hurting them in the end.

The Sharpshooters advance to their first Tehel Cup final against Lakeside.

Looks like the BUSS is out of gas. Sad to see it happen to a guy everyone can root for like Kevin McKenzie. I wonder if that defender Schiappa beat to set up the second goal was Bobby BUSS???

Pretty fair recap. I believe we lost this in like the last 7 minutes which is very unfortunate. Good game Amherst. You guys played really hard and this was one of the best Tehl Cup matches we played. We had a lot of decent opportunities. One notable defensive play was that defender that blocked our forwards shot in the 6. That was world class. The penalty miss was unfortunate, as it would have at least put us in penalties, or would have maybe gave us a more comfortable lead going into the half. All in all you guys will do very well if you advance to Premier, and I wish you luck in the finals.

Thanks, Kevin. I forgot to mention Myles Taylor's goal line clearance. He came out of nowhere to save a for sure goal. His speed is unreal. The kid is really good. Plus he's got a sick flow.