Boys' Soccer
From The Cumberland Advocate
Soccer Team Defeats Washburn 3 to 2; Wins Regional Championship
The Cumberland Beavers Soccer Team won the 2024 Regional Championship on Saturday. The title came following an exciting 3-2 victory over Washburn, a team that had beat them twice during the regular season. “Beating Washburn in Washburn has been a four-year goal for me and to do that and win the Regional Championship is unreal,” said Coach Brent Sellent about the victory.
The win came while the Beavers played over half the game with only ten players following a red card against Goal Keeper John Richter, who collided with a Washburn player during a scramble near the net. “John was making an attempt to stop a shot and unfortunately ran over their player during the effort,” said Coach Sellent. The result led to the move of Senior Riley Brown into goal and a 10 on 11 for the next 60 minutes, with Cumberland already trailing the Castle Guards 1 to 0.
The Beavers responded to the challenge, however, and tied up the contest at the 36-minute mark of the first half, when Senior Gustavo Sonora put a rebound from a penalty kick past the Castle Guard Goal Keeper. The game remained tied at the intermission.
The first 29 minutes of the second half became a defensive battle until Jack Richter scored with 11 minutes to play, giving the Beavers a 2-1 lead. It remained that way until two minutes were left in the match, when a Washburn tied up the contest with their own score setting up a wild finish.
“Things were looking like a possible overtime match, when we were rewarded a corner kick at the Washburn end with 30 seconds to play,” said Coach Sellent. The Cumberland players were determined to end the match right now, however, and they did when a beautifully placed kick by Junior Ian Sellent was headed into the Castle Guard net by Junior Calvin Cunningham. The score sent the players and Cumberland fans into celebration and seconds later the contest ended with a Cumberland victory. “It was an unbelievable ending for our soccer team,” said a happy Sellent.
The Beavers were close to not even playing in the game following an opening 4-3 shoot-out victory over Amery in the Regional opener three nights earlier.
A scoreless game and overtime led to then sudden death shoot-out in front of a cheering home crowd and ended when the Warriors last chance to keep the contest ties went over the Cumberland goal. Noah Jotanovic, Riley Brown, Jack Richter and Brody Chartraw responded with the four Beaver goals, leading to the exciting victory. “It was another great win by our team. They never give up,” concluded Coach Sellent.
The Beavers first game of the 2024 D4 Sectional will take place this Thursday, when they travel to Northland Pines. The winner will take on the winner of Columbus Catholic and Aquinas in Arcadia at 1:00 pm on Saturday.
The Beavers will go into Thursday’s contest with a record of 11-7-1, while Northland Pines stands at 13-2-3. The two teams met earlier this fall, with Northland Pines taking a 4-2 victory.