TENNERTON – Fans in attendance of the Buckhannon-Upshur-Liberty boys’ soccer match perhaps saw the greatest comeback in the history of Buckhannon-Upshur soccer.
The Bucs were down by a 2-0 with less than 10 minutes remaining, yet they rallied, pulling out a thrilling 3-2 victory.
Zach Calef-Boring jumpstarted the rally with a goal in the 71st minute when Julien Larcher played a through ball to him and he finished off the attack with a shot to the middle of the goal.
With less than two minutes remaining, Calef-Boring struck again when he stole the ball, dribbled in and finished with a goal to the near post.
Then, with 12 seconds remaining, Noah Radabaugh capped off the improbable comeback with a goal when Liberty had a poor clear and he came upon a loose ball in the penalty area and finished it with a shot to the far-post for the game-winner.
“Our defense was pushed up and we were trying to get that first goal,” remarked Calef-Boring about the final 10 minutes of the game and the first of his two goals. “They were able to chip the ball up on my first goal, and I was lucky enough to finish the shot and start our comeback.”
The comeback win ended a mini two-game losing streak for the Bucs in which they lost both of those games by a single goal.
“We needed a win like this,” stated Calef-Boring. “We had two losses in a row, so this win meant a lot for the team. I am happy that we were able to get the win for the team and Coach Donato.”
Donato said the finish to the game was unlike anything he had seen in a long time on the pitch.
“The last nine minutes was some of the most exciting soccer I have seen in quite some time,” noted Donato. “I have to commend our guys on a great comeback and their resiliency throughout the game was incredible. Throughout the match I felt we truly deserved to win from the way we moved and possessed the ball, and creating quality counter attacks from some great defending.”
“We worked on a new formation in practice yesterday, so the first half was the first real chance we got to look at it at game speed, so naturally we expected some time to get adjusted and work some kinks out,” he added.
Liberty took their 2-0 lead on a pair of unassisted goals by Noam Mckim and Hayden Dodd.
The Bucs owned an 8-5 lead in shots-on-goal and held a 5-1 margin in corner kicks.
The Bucs were guilty of five fouls while the Mountaineers were called for 10.
B-U keeper Dalton Auvil made three saves while Len Houge stopped five shots for Liberty.
The win gave Donato and his team a 3-3-2 record overall.
They will return to the pitch Thursday at Fairmont Senior with that game starting at 8 p.m.
The boxscore:
Liberty 1 1 – 2
Buckhannon-Upshur 0 3 – 3
Scoring
Liberty – Noam Mckim (unassisted), 28th minute.
Liberty – Hayden Dodd (unassisted), 49th minute.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Zach Calef-Boring (Julien Larcher assist), 71st minute.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Calef-Boring (unassisted), 78th minute
Buckhannon-Upshur – Noah Radabaugh (unassisted), 79th minute
Shots-on-goal – Liberty 5; Buckhannon-Upshur 8.
Corner kicks – Liberty 1; Buckhannon-Upshur 5.
Fouls – Liberty 10; Buckhannon-Upshur 5.
Saves – Liberty: Len Hogue 5; Buckhannon-Upshur: Dalton Auvil 3.
