The Chapel Field boys’ soccer team didn’t get an opportunity to play in last year’s Section 9 Class D championship game against Mount Academy because the Lions didn’t have enough players to field a team.

Things didn’t look to be any easier this year, when at the start their goalkeeper didn’t come back, and even at this late juncture of the season they had to shuffle the lineup to make things work.

And it worked, but just barely.

Maurice Davoren scored his first goal of the season. Drew Hollo stopped two penalty kicks and Jonah McDuffie drove home the winning penalty kick as the top-seeded Lions outkicked the second-seeded Webutuck Warriors, 4-3 to win the Section 9 Class D championship on October 24 at Faller Field in Middletown.

“It feels amazing,” McDuffie said. “Winning’s great. Honestly, any time you win is great, and we won this game because of all the losses we have. And all the wins. So, it’s great.”

It was, however, a long road to the sectional title on that drizzly night in Middletown. First the Lions and Warriors battled to a 1-1 tie at the end of the first half.

Webutuck’s Ludin Tux put the Warriors on the board in the 29th minute, despite Chapel Field having most of the chances. Then with 34 seconds to go in the first half, Davoren scored his goal to tie the game at 1-1.

Davoren’s goal gave the Lions a much-needed lift going into the locker room at halftime.

“That gave us a lot of energy,” McDuffie said. “We needed that scrappy goal because we weren’t hitting our shots that we usually hit. Our outside-the-18 shots weren’t going in and he saved us.”

That gave the Lions a new lease on life.

However, despite dominating play for the next 40 minutes of regulation and then 30 minutes of overtime, the Lions could not put one in.

McDuffie blasted a shot off Webutuck goalkeeper Jeffrey Ellis, but none of his teammates could get to the deflected ball in time before Ellis covered it up. McDuffie also had shots deflected.

Webutuck’s Alex Caldiero had an opportunity to untie the game on a direct kick, but the header went over the goal.

“We’re getting great shots and I was happy,” Chapel Field coach Brad McDuffie said. “It wasn’t like they couldn’t score. I kept telling the guys that you can’t let them load up in the middle of the field – I know you’re tired – but you can’t let them load up and take shots because anything can happen.”

Then came overtime, and after two scoreless 15-minute periods, the game was to be decided by penalty kicks.

“I didn’t want to go to penalty kicks,” coach McDuffie said. “First of all, none of them have ever taken a penalty kick. Drew’s never had to defend a penalty kick in his life. I was like, at that point, whatever happens, happens.”

What happened was good for the Lions.
Caldiero and Chapel Field’s Michael Bonagura traded goals, but Hollo stopped Yousef Aboueid’s shot, and Chapel Field’s David Acuna converted to give the Lions a 2-1 lead. Then, Hollo saved a second shot and Ogi McKenzie knocked in a goal to give the Lions a 3-1 lead.

“He’s purely athletic as goalie,” coach McDuffie said. “he’s a catcher in baseball so he’s using his catcher’s instincts. There’s some positions where he’s coming out on the ball. He’s never been in these positions before, so we’re asking a lot of him, and he came up big.”

With the Lions leading by two, Webutuck’s Sebastian Melchor got the Warriors back on the board. Noah Swart had a chance to end it, but this shot went high. Then Webutuck’s Luis Cabrera tied things up.

That set up Jonah McDuffie to take the final shot, which he converted to start the celebration and send the Lions into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament.

“You live for these moments,” he said. “You live for the adversity. You don’t think about it. You just take a deep breath, and you kick it.”

He kicked his team into the regional finals where the Lions will travel to either Section 11 or Section 2 on Saturday.

“We’re going to keep on playing how we used to play,” Jonah McDuffie said. “And we’re going to play hard. We’re going to play our hearts out, like we did tonight.”