Ryle’s postseason formula has been pretty simple.
Score an early goal and then let the defense do their thing.
On Monday at the Mustang Athletic Complex in the first round of the state tournament against Bishop Brossart, the Raiders struck first and then found some more goals to win 5-0 to advance to the state quarterfinals for the second straight season.
The shutout was the Raiders 15th of the season and fifth of the postseason in six games, surrendering just one goal so far.
“The chemistry between us and having fun playing with each other,” Raiders defender Owen Schierberg said of the defensive formula. “It’s pretty fun when they put up zero’s.”
Ryle’s (21-2-1) opening flurry came in the game’s first 10 minutes, putting up five shots, all of them on target. Diego Hoenderkamp’s feed to Brice Denigan in the sixth minute got the Raiders on the board.
Things started to settle in after the Raiders opening array of shots, but were inches away from making it 2-0 in the 20th minute, Tyler Smith’s last ditch effort keeping the ball out of the Brossart net to keep it 1-0.
The Raiders first half dominance showed on the stat sheet, putting up seven shots to the Mustangs one, six of them on goal as Michael Cooney made five first half saves for the Mustangs, Landon Barth clearing away the only threat from Brossart in the first as they went into the half 1-0.
The second half started with Brossart’s best chance of the night. The program’s all-time leading scorer Tyler Smith slid to go get a free kick that went in the box, his sliding shot sailing just over the crossbar as the equalizer attempt missed by inches.
“All we needed was one goal there and we felt we could put them on their heels,” Mustangs coach Ron Dunlevy said. “We felt we were really pushing there and had some opportunities. Their defense played well, we couldn’t get through and when you don’t get through and when we get sucked up to the front that does leave us exposed on the counter and they took advantage.”
Smith was priority number one for the Raiders, knowing of his goal-scoring prowess.
“They do a really good job of moving him around. He started at the nine and he was playing some six and some eight,” Collins said. “At halftime, we made just a couple small defensive assignments for us because one thing we knew is we didn’t want him to beat us. If they were gonna beat us, somebody besides Smith was going to beat us.”
Ryle didn’t flinch, answering a minute later on a Denigan counter attack, curving one inside the net from just inside the box.
Unlike four of their prior five postseason games where the scoring stopped at two goals, the floodgates opened from there.
“We’ve played on a lot of small fields, so even though we came out like that in the first half we were still a little discombobulated,” Collins said. “At halftime we talked about closing up that gap, doing a little more possession and we found the middle, went outside a couple times and got some goals. That really loosened us up once we got that second goal.”
Chase McCarthy’s shot from a corner kick rebound found the bottom left corner of the net for a 3-0 lead in the 55th minute, Ricardo Galan added the Raiders fourth goal in the 62nd minute from his own rebound and firing one past Cooney.
Denigan put in his third goal of the night a minute later to make it 5-0 with 17 minutes to play.
“I knew if we got in front of the goal, we’d have good chances to put it in. I got a few good balls from Diego, Jake (McCann) played me a real good ball so it was pretty easy just taking it down and placing it,” Denigan said. “We really hit a groove once we scored the first goal and took off from there.”
The win gets the Raiders to the quarterfinals to face North Laurel, a 3-0 winner over Perry County Central on Monday night. The Raiders will be the hosts for the contest against the Jaguars with the game most likely taking place on Thursday in Union.
“We don’t usually look ahead. Our philosophy is we can play with anybody in the state, let’s make them play with us and we’ll go from there,” Collins said.
The Mustangs storybook season comes to a close at 17-5-5, winning their first region title since 2013 and a fourth straight 37th District title.
“Just absolutely proud of them. They set the bar for this program and they’ll be a team remembered for all time,” Dunlevy said.
Brossart will graduate 10 seniors, including the most prolific goal scorer in program history in Smith.
Barth finished with three saves. Cooney with seven for the Mustangs.