The Wallkill Panthers got all the offense they would need in the first half.

Aidan Boland scored two first-half goals, and the Panthers held off the FDR Presidents on Friday afternoon for a 2-1 victory in a Mid Hudson Athletic League boys’ soccer game at Don Andrews Field on Friday at Wallkill High School.

The two teams had previously met on Sept. 6 to open the season in Staatsburg, a game the Panthers won, 6-0.

“It was just a bunch of unlucky bounces, and unlucky passes, not taking the game seriously because we beat them last time,” Boland said. “We weren’t making the right plays, looking at the right places and forcing the ball way too much.”

The Panthers were at their best early in the game, despite losing junior captain Exander DeCastro early in the game to injury.

Five minutes into the game, Boland beat the FDR defense and sent his shot into the back of the net giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead.

“I just saw their defense checking up too high,” Boland said. “I saw the chance to get a through ball, got that through and just placed it.”

His second goal of the game came about seven minutes later and came because he trailed a teammate’s shot. Chris Banegas took a shot that bounced off the Presidents’ goalkeeper, and Boland came in to clean up the mess, redirecting the shot into the goal, giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead.

From there it seemed like the Panthers were on their way, but FDR’s Drew Kelly tucked a shot inside the left corner of the goal, cutting the Panthers’ lead to 2-1 with about 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
The Panthers led 2-1 at halftime and the two teams bandied the ball back and forth in the second half, but no one had a good scoring opportunity the rest of the way.

“We felt the (game settle into a lull in the second half),” Boland said. “It just turned much more into man-to-man, than man-to-ball.”

But it was enough to give the Panthers’ their fourth win of the season, and a sweep of the Presidents for the 2024 season. It was also their third divisional win, guaranteeing them a berth in the upcoming Section 9 Class AA tournament at the end of October.

They also defeated Saugerties, 5-1, on Wednesday. They suffered their only divisional loss on Sept. 16, when they were beaten, 3-0, by the Our Lady of Lourdes Warriors.

They had six days off before playing back-to-back games this week. They’ll host the Marlboro Iron Dukes on Thursday and visit the Middletown Bears on Friday.

“I feel like we’re not in a bad place,” Boland said. “But we definitely could be in a better place.”