367 days ago, Keystone’s Zander Yoho broke a late tie against Brookside with a 78th-minute goal to deliver an 0-2 Wildcats squad its first 2022 victory.
Flash forward to the present day of Aug. 26 in a tie game at Midview, and Keystone sitting at 0-2 entering the late afternoon match, you might be able to guess what happened.
Yoho took a pass back from Chase Cuson and knocked the ball in at the end of the 78th minute to deliver Keystone a 2-1 victory over Midview.
GOAL KEYSTONE
78th Minute Cuson taps it to Yoho who rolls it in. Keystone's got its first lead late@Khsboyzsoccer 2@MidviewMSoccer 1@MJournalSports @KLSD_Sports pic.twitter.com/jg0n5zP8BF
— Sean Fitzgerald (@fitzonsportsbsr) August 26, 2023
Yoho seems to always find a way to come up clutch in late-game situations such as against the Middies and previously with Brookside.
Postgame interview with @ZanderYoho24 with a quick shower courtesy of Coach Tom Baracskai @Khsboyzsoccer @MJournalSports pic.twitter.com/Flv8ceqVFE
— Sean Fitzgerald (@fitzonsportsbsr) August 26, 2023
“It had been coming the entire half. We were in their attacking third a lot,” Yoho said as he went through the sequence of the walk-off goal, with a quick shower courtesy of head coach Tom Baracskai during his explanation. With his shirt now soaked Yoho wiped away the water dripping down his face before continuing.
“We had a lot of nice shots and their goalie had a lot of nice saves. It just came down to the wire and we had that opportunity to score. Yeah, it was awesome.”
Cuson, who had a score earlier in the contest on a feed from Yoho, talked about delivering under the pressure of the moment.
“That game-winning goal – you know, the pressure’s on us,” Cuson said. “We’re sitting right outside the 18 (yard mark). Zander wins it, finds me and I find him right back. Thankfully, he slaps it perfectly bottom left. You couldn’t ask for a better finish, better chemistry, everything. We just worked so well as a team in that last two minutes and it worked out.”
“I can honestly tell you, I was just hoping to play for the tie,” Baracskai stated prior to Yoho’s game-winner. “The guys were doing good, we were just happy with our guys’ performance off the bench. At the beginning of the game, we talked about everybody just filling their individual roles, don’t worry about the outcome of the game. If everybody did their individual role and individual goal with their specific position, we’d do well as a team.”
That’s exactly what happened to give the Wildcats their first 2023 victory and Midview its third loss to go along with a tie. It was an even match nearly the entire way through, but it was the little extra push that hurt the Middies in the end.
“It all comes down to effort,” Midview coach Kyle Milner said. “It shouldn’t have been a game tonight. I know the quality of my team and I know we can compete at a lot higher of a level, and it just wasn’t there tonight.”
Earlier in the contest, Midview successfully pressured the Keystone backline early before the Wildcats got their feet under them with three freshman starters in the back. The Midview attack pushed up several times but didn’t break the white and purple’s defense.
That changed in the 20th minute when Kaiden Vonya blitzed up the field and knocked a ball through to take the early lead.
Goal Midview (VIDEO)
20th minute score by Kaiden Vonya@MidviewMSoccer 1@Khsboyzsoccer 0@MJournalSports pic.twitter.com/mkxyy5OdzI
— Sean Fitzgerald (@fitzonsportsbsr) August 26, 2023
Keystone would get its chance to strike back. Like time and time before, Chase Cuson and Zander Yoho found a way to get it done. Yoho wound up with the ball on the 40-yard line as he fed it through to Cuson.
The ball was perfectly placed, allowing Cuson to race down the field to place a score into the bottom left corner of the net and tie the game up
Goal Keystone (VIDEO)
29th minute Chase Cuson gets the feed from Zander Yoho and puts it in the bottom left corner of the net@Khsboyzsoccer 1@MidviewMSoccer 1@MJournalSports pic.twitter.com/NA7msG4jeb
— Sean Fitzgerald (@fitzonsportsbsr) August 26, 2023
“I mean, you can’t ask for a better pass,” Cuson said. “He found me perfectly all thanks to Pierce Yeager, our new midfielder. He stepped in and it’s his first year, second game ever he’s played on the field. He won the ball, found Zander. Zander played me the best ball possible and it worked out. I found the back of the net.”
A critical moment in the game came early second half. Keystone was on the backfoot as Midview’s Vonya had a shot to take the lead again from close range in the 48th minute.
With a strike of his foot, the sophomore midfielder had the ball on line for the back of the net as Keystone keeper Grant Hartley dove to his left and deflected the ball off his fingers for a clutch save. While Midview came close to scoring again once or twice, Hartley kept the game deadlocked until Yoho’s eventual game-winner.
“At that time of the game, we needed a save,” Hartley said. “I knew nothing could get by me so I knew I had to stop it.”
Midview (0-3-1) will have a short turnaround as it travels to Akron Firestone on Aug. 28. Keystone’s next action will be in conference play against Oberlin on Aug. 30.
The score
Keystone 2, Midview 1
