Juchno's late goal sends Poland to regional

The Bulldogs won their first district crown since 1999.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CORTLAND -- The Division II district soccer championship game between Poland and Lakeview seemed headed for overtime and perhaps a shootout.
The teams remained deadlocked in a scoreless tie as the clock ticked inside of eight minutes remaining.
"I was beginning to think about getting my shootout rotation set," said Lakeview coach Joe Megyesi in a defensive-minded game played in adverse weather conditions at Lakeview's stadium.
Poland's senior midfielder Chris Juchno had no such thoughts about an extra session.
Juchno scored with 7:07 left on a spectacular play that gave the Bulldogs the 1-0 victory.
That winning shot lifted Poland (17-1-1) to a regional appearance on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Alliance against Chagrin Falls or Notre Dame Cathedral Latin.
"It feels outstanding," Juchno said of the game winning kick. "There was so much going through my mind but I just wanted to finish the play."
Winning shot
Juchno took a pass from Dain Malaniak at about the 40-yard line and when a Lakeview defender slipped on the muddy turf, Juchno saw only goalkeeper Greg Pecorelli standing in the way of the goal.
Juchno dribbled the ball down the field and drilled a hard kick that deflected off a hard charging Pecorelli and went into the back of the net.
"Once I saw the pass come through, I broke and took the ball," Juchno said. "Once the defender slipped and the goal keeper came out, I knew I had it.
"I wanted to step up and help the team out," Juchno said. "I was frustrated earlier because of getting called offside on a disallowed goal.
"I just wanted to end it right there for the seniors."
Poland's defense held off any Lakeview charges in the final seven minutes and the Bulldogs advanced to regional play for the first time since 1999.
"This is incredible," Poland coach Chris LaBatte said.
"It's hard to describe. This is my fifth year and every year this team has gotten better.
"We knew it would be difficult because Lakeview is a great team."
Wet conditions
Both teams battled evenly throughout the match on a field that wasn't conducive to speed or controlling the ball.
Lakeview and Poland coaches both said that they were concerned with taking the ball away from the other team.
Poland forced most of the action early in the game and came close to scoring several times but Pecorelli made several outstanding saves.
Lakeview (14-4-1), seeded third in the tournament and co-champs with Champion in the TAC-8, had several chances to score in the second half but Poland goalkeeper Caleb Markusic was equally strong at the net.
"It was tough to get anything going in the middle of the field because of the conditions," Megyesi said. "We tried to work outside but both defenses did an outstanding job tonight.
"I'm very proud of my team," Megyesi said. "We lost 12 seniors from last year and these guys have far exceeded my expectations for the season."
The strength of the defenses was evident in that the two teams only took 11 shots on goal with Poland taking seven and Lakeview four.
"We wanted to eliminate major threats by [Lakeview]," Labatte said. "We had to play through tough weather conditions but when Chris made that shot all I said was, 'about time.' "