(Albert Onderko | Sentinel-Tribune)
GENOA — Genoa narrowly beat Otsego Thursday night 2-1 in the sectional round of the Division IV tournament on the Comets’ field.
Genoa forward Jayden Kutchenriter excelled on his home field, scoring both of his squad’s goals.
Though Genoa scored first, Otsego was aggressive, having more opportunities to start the game. The Knights had two free kicks from good distances and put two shots off the crossbar. On another shot, Genoa goalkeeper Joey Caughorn made a highlight save to deny it.
Kutchenriter took a breakaway pass at 24:34 to score the only goal of the half and give Genoa the one score lead heading into the break.
To start the second, Otsego earned two back-to-back free kicks as well as a handful of corner kicks but could not complete the opportunities. They were finally able to see one go in the back of the net when Otsego midfielder Walker Waitt scored a tough goal with 14 minutes remaining, trafficing through a slew of Comets and finding the bottom left corner.
“One of the things we talked about coming in, when you’re in these types of games, something wrong is going to happen and it’s just how you respond when something bad does happen,” said Genoa coach Tim Memmer. “We got six guys that’ve never kicked a soccer ball before this year so I’m happy with how we responded as a team.”
With the momentum shifting, Genoa was awarded a penalty kick, but Otsego goalkeeper Dylan Jones made an impressive save.
As momentum continued inching towards their sideline, the Knights allowed Kutchenriter to receive another breakaway pass. On an island with Jones, Kutchenriter made the Knights’ defense pay with a nicely placed ball in the back of the net with 13 minutes remaining.
“Our goalie makes a fantastic save on that penalty and I think after that the boys were just so amped about the save that they let the emotions get to them. We quickly played the ball instead of getting back into shape. It was very chaotic, and they took advantage of us because we were just too high over the moon,” said Otsego coach Ryan Carter.
“I thought we did well most of the game but a guy like that (Kutchenriter) only needs two chances. We had our chances too, but the difference was they didn’t fall. We played well, we played our game the way we wanted to, we just had a hard time finding the back of the net.”
Each team had ten shots, but Otsego had a few more corner attempts than the Comets. Both keepers had memorable nights in the net, making improbable saves to keep the score tight.
With the loss Otsego’s season comes to an end. They finished the year with a record of 3-13-2.
The Comets will look to advance further in the tournament when they take on No. 1 seed Lake. The district semifinal game will be Monday at Lake with a 5 p.m. kickoff
