Panthers start and finish with style as Braves boys soccer season ends

Oct. 6—The glass half-full view on Terre Haute South's Class 3A Martinsville boys soccer sectional contest against Bloomington South was that the Braves were even with the Panthers for 62 minutes of their semifinal.

The rub, of course, is that it's an 80-minute game at the high school level and Terre Haute South couldn't wipe away those 18 minutes that ended their season.

Bloomington South earned a 4-1 victory, scoring all of their goals in spurts at the start and end of the contest.

The Panthers, who have 12 seniors on their roster as opposed to five for the Braves, looked every bit the more experience team. Moreover? The Panthers were bigger, quicker and had more depth.

"We didn't win any balls in the air in the first half. In the second half, we were more aggressive. Their depth just wore us down in the second half," Terre Haute South coach John Stephens said.

It was difficult for the Braves (8-10) to sustain possession or an attack outside of the occasional counter-attack and the long ball that would work out on occasion.

Bloomington South had a 23-7 edge in shots, 10 of the Panthers' shots were on goal. The Panthers also had an 8-2 advantage in corner kicks.

The Panthers (14-1-3) used their speed and size to put the Braves behind the 8-ball almost immediately.

In the second minute, a long diagonal ball was played from the Panthers' back line to Sebastian Brena-Ochoa on the right flank.

Brena-Ochoa, Bloomington South's captain and the best player on the pitch for the Panthers, sent a blistering shot at South goalkeeper Zane Gossett, who parried Brena-Ochoa's shot off the bar.

Unfortunately for the Braves, the rebound went to Bloomington South's Landon Ryner on the left side of the goal and he steered the deflection in for the opening goal.

Less than four minutes later, it was 2-0. From a corner kick, a Ryner shot was punched by Gossett in the six-yard box. It deflected right to Jakob Orth, taller than any Braves defender, at the far post and he duly headed it in for the two-goal Bloomington South advantage.

"We came out thinking we were still playing against Terre Haute North ... that's not Terre Haute North. Bloomington South has so much speed and talent at every position. They caught us flat," Stephens said.

After that? The Braves got the wake-up call and had a response of their own. On one of South's sorties forward, Talan Carton beat two Bloomington South defenders on the right side and got into the 18-yard box.

He centered it perfectly for South's Grant Esper, who rarely misses on a one-on-one chance in close range. Esper slotted home from seven yards to make it 2-1.

It stayed that way until the 12:49 mark of the second half. Terre Haute South did a much better job of limiting Bloomington South's chance and created a few of their own. The best one, when Adam Mohamed got into the 18-yard box for a half-chance, was deemed offsides.

Down a goal, South was forced to throw players forward and Bloomington South had more space to maneuver.

Their third goal came off a corner as Brena-Ochoa's headed chance deflected out to corner-taker Joseph DiGregorio. He dribbled just inside the 18-box and sent in a fizzing low shot past Gossett at the near post to make it 3-1. Brena-Ochoa scored the fourth late via a solo effort.

"I thought we fixed some things at halftime. We played the ball more diagonal, we weren't just playing straight up and down the field. Unfortunately, our legs kind of gave out on us," Stephens said.

South returns much of its roster, though not the influential Esper or Mason Ham.

"We didn't have the season we wanted. We thought we'd have a better record than we did. We played well against some tough teams. We held Columbus North 3-2, no one else scored two against Columbus this season. They shut out most of our conference. We've shown we can play well in tough games," Stephens said.

How does South get better going forward?

"We have to develop more depth. We suffered through injuries halfway through the season we weren't ready for. We have a large senior class next year. There's an opportunity for lots of different guys to step up," Stephens said.