Featured Game: Lions' Dream Ends In Disappointment

contributed by: joearriolajr

By Joe Arriola
Sports Reporter -- TOWNSQUAREBUZZ.com

PLANO, TX - McKinney High's dream of earning a trip to the state championship game ended Tuesday night in Plano. During the Lions' 20-game undefeated streak, they managed to win games in both dominant and dramatic fashion. But when it came to their fourth round playoff game versus the Lovejoy Leopards, the Lions lost 3-1 (OT) in a soccer match that was simply disappointing.

"I was disappointed with our work rate in the first half," McKinney head coach Alan Pocock said. "Second half, the boys responded much better. We just didn't get that goal to wrap it up and we put Lovejoy in a great spot in overtime to win."

Lovejoy finished the regular season with a District 21-4A championship following a 10-1-1 mark in district play. Although the Leopards didn't finish undefeated, the Lions came into Tuesday night's regional quarterfinal expecting them to play like a fourth round playoff team.

"We knew Lovejoy was going to be a very hard working team like Highland Park was," Pocock said.

Last Friday's 2-1 overtime win over Highland Park was a case of big time players making big time plays. Versus Lovejoy, it all came down to big time decisions and what Pocock called, 'two dumb fouls' on the part of the Lions.

With 10:58 on the clock in the first half, Stanton Garcia put McKinney High up 1-0 off the assist from Grant Sigler. Pocock expected his experienced squad to hold tight and keep the Leopards off the board for the remainder of the half. However, a penalty set Lovejoy up with a free kick and the Leopards capitalized with 11 seconds remaining to tie the game heading into halftime.

"The most dangerous thing I was worried about with Lovejoy was their set pieces. They're dangerous around the box," Pocock said.

In the second half, the Lions stepped their game up and had plenty of looks at the goal but just couldn't get the ball past Leopards' goalkeeper Eric Shephard.

"We had two or three more times the scoring opportunities that Lovejoy did and we didn't finish."

After regulation, the Lions entered overtime hoping for a repeat performance of their overtime win against Highland Park. But with 3:35 left in the first half of overtime, a Lions' foul set Lovejoy up with another free kick opportunity junior Eddie Puskarich delivered a perfect strike past the arms of MHS' Brett Villarreal to give the Leopards a 2-1 lead and all but seal the game.

"We didn't need to foul and set up the win for Lovejoy," Pocock said. "It could have easily been us putting that free kick away in overtime like we did last time. But this time it was them. I think Lovejoy had every bit as much right to win that game."

During their playoff run, the Lions concluded each game with a team photo in front of their fans. This time, instead of celebrating a victory with a team photo the Lions thanked their fans for a season of support by applauding the crowd at Plano Clark Stadium following a tough loss.

"This disappointment doesn't erase all the boys accomplished in getting here. My heart goes out to everybody who contributed. We've got sophomores and juniors returning that had just as much to do with this record year for us."

Back in November, the Lions told their head coach about their goal of making it to the state title game and Pocock admitted he had his concerns before the regular season got underway.

"I came down on them because I wanted to see the leadership and the work rate," he said.

The Lions responded with a 20-0-1 record, a district championship, and three playoff victories.

"I'm astounded at what they accomplished this year. My goal after wrapping up district was to make it to the regional final four and unfortunately we came one game short," Pocock said.