Herndon Boys Earn No.1 Seed With OT Win Over Cougars

The undefeated Herndon Boys’ varsity soccer team (12-0) took the short trip to Oakton Tuesday night, looking to nab the number one seed in the Concorde district. However, the Cougars (8-3-1) would do everything in their power to squash the Hornets’ run and take top honors themselves for the upcoming tournament.

Tied at one apiece at the end of regulation, Herndon found the rhythm it had been seeking all night in the final five minutes of overtime. With 2:47 left in to play, Carlos Mendoza took a deep pass, tore down the left sideline and sent a rainbow cross to Dominic Gallelli, who drilled a hard header in the right-side, upper 90 to give his Hornets the No.1 seed with the win, 2-1.

“I knew he was going to cross it when I saw [Mendoza] take a touch and I just tried to get my position correct. I got a good head on it and it felt great to score the winning goal,” Gallelli said. “My heart just started beating really fast and I was just pumped.”

The Hornets found themselves in an unusual position, as they had to come from behind Tuesday night. Oakton controlled the tempo early and would not let go during the first half of the match. Senior Cougar captain, Bubba Delgado fired several shots on Herndon keeper Jack Clarke in the first 30 minutes, forcing Herndon to focus on its defensive play.

With 6:15 left in the opening half, Clarke saved a Delgado shot but the ball rolled out of his arms. Oakton sophomore, Christian Ollen capitalized by putting a foot on the ball from six yards out to score and take the lead, 1-0.

Yet, the Hornets stayed composed in the second half and stole the momentum from Oakton. Midfielders Sam Eaddy, Josh Glazier and Bryant Fernandez bottled up the Cougars near centerfield to create several turnovers. Instead of playing the ball short and working their way up field as they tried in the first half, the Hornet defense and middies lobbed the ball deep to strikers EK Korvah and Patrick McLaughlin.

“We just tried to go in there and take back the momentum,” Eaddy said. “Thanks to EK and Patrick running balls up top, we started to control things.”

The change in strategy paid off when McLaughlin got the ball after a free kick and headed it into the back of the net from eight yards out to tie the game at one, with 34:41 remaining in regulation.

“The first 20 minutes [Oakton] played incredible and came at us with some fire,” McLaughlin said. “But we held our own and started getting into the flow of things.”

Oakton forwards Delgado and Charlie Ahn created one-on-one situations with Clarke, but the Herndon keeper was on fire and dove for at least three circus-like saves. McLaughlin and Korvah had seven solid shots each in the second half but could not find the net due to stellar play from Cougar relief keeper, Logan Cropper who subbed in for Mike Chanhiran.

Time ran out with the score, 1-1 and the teams readied themselves for the fan-favorite, 10-minute overtime period. Both squads battled it out for the first five minutes until they switched sides and Herndon got aggressive. Two minutes later, Gallelli knocked one in to keep the Hornets perfect with one game left in the regular season.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to make history for Herndon,” Eaddy said. “[We’re] the first team to go 12-0 and possibly an undefeated season—and this is the 100th year.”

Herndon coach Sean Lanigan said he was thrilled with his team’s performance. But though the players hope to go undefeated, Coach Sean Lanigan wants to stay focused on winning in the upcoming playoffs.

“Tomorrow night is just a game for a perfect season. We’re about wining banners right now,” he said. “We want to capture this Concorde district, make a good run at the region and get to states. An undefeated season would be nice, but it’s not our focus.”

Herndon plays at home against Langley on May 11 at 7 p.m.