Bouncing back
ADAMS TWP — Mars boys soccer coach Blair Gerlach wanted to see how his team would respond after suffering their only loss of the season in the regular-season finale last Tuesday.
In Monday's WPIAL Class AA playoff game against Mount Pleasant, the slow start didn't appeal to him, but the quick finish did.
Mars' Bob McKinney scored on a penalty kick with 25:21 remaining in the second half to break a scoreless tie to send the Planets on their way to a 3-0 victory at the Mars Athletic Complex.
The Planets (17-1) dominated play in the first half, but the Vikings (9-9-3) were up to the task of trying to play a spoiler role.
"For me, it gets a little more frustrating," said Mars coach Blair Gerlach. "We played well in the first half and had our chances. Either their goalie (Joey Fearer) came up big or we just couldn't score.
"We settled down at the half. We wanted to take a more calm approach, try and piece it together," Gerlach added.
Fearer came up with three big saves in the first five minutes of the second half to keep the game deadlocked.
But, with 25:21 left in the game, a Planets shot in front of the net was swatted away by Mount Pleasant's Matt Riggs, who earned a red card for the obvious handball.
McKinney then drilled a shot past Fearer for the 1-0 lead. The Vikings played the remainder of the game short one player, and it started to show.
"We played defense really well in the first half," said Mount Pleasant coach Roy Olinger. "We're not a team that can come from behind. We did what we wanted to do. It wasn't pretty.
"Just when we were going to make a couple of moves, they got that goal and things just didn't work out," he added.
"After the first goal, they had to push players forward," Gerlach said. "I was proud of the way the kids played."
With 3:31 remaining, Mars' Justin Piocquidio scored in front of the net off an assist from Derek Workman, then the Planets' Mark Dressel accounted for the last goal with 1:46 remaining off a corner kick from Scott Sowers.
Mars had opened the season with 16 consecutive wins before dropping the final game 2-1 to Hampton in double overtime. The Planets emerged with the win Monday, but Gerlach knows the Planets will have to turn things up a notch when they play Beaver in the second round at a date, site and time to be determined.
"(Mt. Pleasant) came here to win. That's a credit to them," said Gerlach. "It was a good, challenging first-round game. Hopefully we'll learn from that."
