The District One champion Aces (18-1-3) took their #1 Inquirer ranking & #2 Coaches Poll ranking into the 1st round of the State Playoffs tonight against District 3's Mechanicsburg, who had an impressive 20-2-1 record.
LM took immediate control of the game and just 12 minutes in got on the board with their sophmore connection. Matt Lindheim dribbled past 2 Mechanicburg defenders and sent over a nice cross that Kenny Lassiter drilled into the back of the net, 1-0 Aces. Junior Ben Hriscu, playing a very strong game, created several more scoring chances as LM kept the ball in their offensive end most of the 1st half. With just over 2 minutes left in the half Sasha Safavi took a free kick from Nate Diehl and was right on with a beautiful strike from 16 yards out, 2-0 Aces at the half.
With Michael Lemonick & David Rosenfeld playing their usual dominating games, and the team having their best tackling game of the season, things looked pretty good. Mechanicburg started to put a little pressure on the Aces in the 2nd half, but were limited to shots from well outside the goalies box that had little chance of beating LM's hot goalkeeper Emmett McConnell. As the clock wound down under 1 minute the Aces were headed for their 7th straight shutout. However, with only 42 seconds left, Mechanicsburg broke that shutout streak with a bullit from 20 yards out that McConnell had no chance on. Final score, 2-1 LM.
Of concern to the Aces going into the 2nd round game on Saturday is the fact that both Matt Linheim & Kenny Lassiter, who both had to leave the game with injuries in the 2nd half, never returned to the field.
With this 1st round win the Aces (19-1-3) move on to the State quarter-finals on Saturday night, and will play the winner of tonight's Central Bucks East (District 1) vs. Coughlin (District 2) game at a time & site to be determined. That info will be posted here tomorrow.
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