Valiant Rustin comeback falls short
WESTTOWN — Down by one goal in the final minute, Brett O’Neill was hoping West Chester Rustin would get the opportunity to find an equalizer against Haverford.
The Golden Knights, with possession, let their first two chances slip away. The second attempt was stopped on a strong save by Fords goalie Danny Tierney.
In an instant, Rustin was given a third chance to tie the game with 16.5 seconds left after Tierney bobbled the ball behind the net in an attempt to clear it. O’Neill saw his teammate, RJ Zoba, right in front of Tierney.
Naturally, his eyes lit up.
“I was sitting on the crease and thought RJ picked it up right away,’ O’Neill said. “I was ecstatic when the turnover happened. Unfortunately, a forced turnover messed up the opportunity.’
Tierney kept his composure as Zoba was coming to pick up the ball. He knocked the ball out of Zoba’s stick and cleared it in the final seconds to preserve Haverford’s 9-8 victory over West Chester Rustin in a nonleague clash between Central and Ches-Mont League foes.
Despite the Golden Knights (2-1) losing their first game of the season, O’Neill wasn’t frustrated with the result. Not after his team battled back from a four-goal deficit in the third quarter to make it a game in the final minutes.
“We were out there and fighting for it,’ O’Neill said. “I’m not really upset just based on how much effort we put in. We just have to learn from this loss and get better.’
Rustin’s chances of winning against Haverford looked bleak once Kevin Kaufmann capitalized off a turnover at midfield and scored his second goal of the game to put the Fords ahead 8-4 with 8:04 remaining in the third quarter.
The four-goal deficit could have felt like a 10-goal deficit on a chilly, blustery day in late March. Instead, the Rustin sideline preached the deficit was not impossible to overcome.
“We just got together and realized it was ‘ now or nothing” said Mike McKnight, who had a goal in the game. “We just had that ‘ all or nothing’ mentality and used everything we had. We pressed hard on defense and tried to get the best shots on offense by not forcing anything.
“They did a real good job of shutting us down early, but we got some good shots late and made it a game.’
The momentum shifted in Rustin’s favor after Tierney stopped a Tommy McGlone blast off his pads, but O’Neill was there to put in the rebound as the Golden Knights’ deficit was cut to 8-5 with 3:57 left in the third.
On Rustin’s next possession, O’Neill blasted a one-timer past Tierney to make it 8-6 for his third goal of the game.
The Golden Knights continued their momentum with Kyle Mullin in net as he stopped five of his eight shots in the third to keep Haverford from pulling away.
Casey West put Rustin within one with 9:08 to play, but Haverford’s Luke McCallion answered with a strike, his fourth of the game, to put the Fords up 9-7 with 6:57 left.
“He won a lot of face-offs for them,’ McKnight said. “He’s good at controlling the game. We just tried to limit him and put our LSM on him after the second quarter to slow him down a little. We did a better job shutting him down that second half, which helped us come back.’
After a timeout with 4:02 to play, Cameron West converted on a strong pass by R.J. Zoba which broke through two defenders and into West’s stick. West finished the play with a goal from point-blank range to cut the deficit to 9-8.
The Fords played keep away to make sure Rustin did not get a final chance to tie it, but Mullin came up with a save in the final minute to give the Golden Knights one last crack to force overtime.
The opportunities were there, but Rustin couldn’t find the back of the net as Haverford escaped with a big road win against a tough Ches-Mont opponent.
The loss gives the Golden Knights confidence heading into league play next week. Rustin is expected to play spoiler in the Ches-Mont title race and compete for the first district playoff spot in program history.
“Coming off this loss, I guarantee all we’ll have to do is talk to each other next practice,’ O’Neill said. “We know what we did wrong and it won’t happen again next game.’
“We’re resilient,’ McKnight said. “Coming back from an 8-4 deficit against a good Central League team shows how much we care about winning. We’re not going to go down easy this year. That will reflect on the whole season.’
