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PVAC regular-season schedule is a ’Beest

Sandy Spring Friends wins second straight league title

Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006

Usually for a good team, let alone a great one, the most important time of the year is the postseason. But after Sandy Spring Friends boys soccer team’s thrilling 2-1 victory over Covenant Life Thursday, its most significant goal coming into the season was accomplished — the Wildebeest are regular-season champions of the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference.

Junior Will Merritt tallied his second goal of the season with just five minutes to play, exactly 60 seconds after a penalty kick by Covenant Life had tied the game, to give Sandy Spring (12-1 overall, 10-0 in the PVAC) their second straight conference title.

It was the game the Wildebeest had circled on their calendar all year. While they will be considered favorites to win in the PVAC postseason tournament, which begins next Tuesday, coach Eduardo Alejandro Polõn drummed his philosophy into his players’ heads — this was the game that decides the real champions.

‘‘The regular-season banner is especially unique for those of us who truly love soccer,” said Polõn. ‘‘It’s sort of like in Europe where you earn it by playing out games with the most points, not just a playoff system where you get lucky.”

The manner in which the Wildebeest won their 28th consecutive conference game, dating back to 2004, is what Polõn found most gratifying. The teams entered the regular-season championship remarkably even: both teams had only allowed four goals all season, both teams average approximately three goals per game, and most significantly, both had posted perfect records.

After Sandy Spring senior forward Kyle Cassidy scored his league-leading 20th goal of the season 10 minutes into regulation, the defenses took over. In fact, there were almost no prominent scoring opportunities until the game’s 74th minute, when Sandy Spring was called for a handball in the box, resulting in a penalty kick. Covenant Life (10-1, 9-1) forward Sam Furnish cashed in on the opportunity with his 12th tally of the season, his fifth straight game with a goal, knotting the score and seemingly sending the game to overtime.

But the Wildebeest responded in championship fashion. Almost immediately following the goal, its first allowed in five games, they rushed up the field with attacking passes. Midfielder Christopher Davis played a lob pass to Merritt, who left-footed the shot over keeper Robby Sawyer and just inside the right corner of the net to give his team the lead back.

His shot was a dagger — Covenant Life defenders sunk their heads while the Wildebeest embraced at midfield in a team huddle. Goalkeeper Sam Schneider jumped up and down repeatedly, while Polõn simply smiled. That was the game.

‘‘My teammate Chris just played the ball perfectly right back to me,” said Merritt, describing the winning goal. ‘‘I just hit it and it actually skimmed someone’s head. But, yeah, I knew it was going in.”

One of the most jubilant was Cassidy, the team captain. The senior is a veritable coach on the field for Sandy Spring and his lofting sidewinder from 20 yards away set the tone for the whole game.

He echoed Polõn’s credo that this was the game the whole season set the stage for. In a captain’s journal he keeps on the team Web site, he called the regular-season championship ‘‘the ultimate prize”, and while a second PVAC championship title (banners are awarded to both the regular-season and playoff winner) will be decided 10 days from now, Cassidy already feels he went out on top.

‘‘Responding to a penalty kick like that: that’s the kind of stuff you can’t really teach your players,” said Cassidy, who took a recruiting visit to Haverford College in Pennsylvania immediately after the match. ‘‘It takes certain amount of character to respond in that sort of way. It’s really satisfying, not only because it’s my senior year, but you want your last year to end on a good note.”