Trojans? season ends in round two of substate

The Fairfield boys? soccer squad came up a few inches short of extending its season in the second round of substate action Wednesday in Fairfield.

The Trojans, who missed a few shots by the smallest of margins, saw their season end in a 3-2 defeat to rival Mount Pleasant. The Panthers move on to the final round of substate play to face Clear Creek-Amana, which topped Keokuk 14-0 Wednesday in Keokuk.

Senior Max Sloat scored both of the goals for Fairfield, with assists from junior Roan Bachar and senior Kendall Mickels.

?Even though it was a tough loss, we came a long way,? said Fairfield head coach Felisto Guezimane. ?We had a pretty good season. There was a stretch this year where we were missing key players but then they came back, and we bounced back.?

The Trojans won their final two regular season games by a combined score of 19-2.

Once again Wednesday, Fairfield looked like a well-oiled offensive machine at the game?s start. The Trojans won the battle for possession early on, fighting deep into Mount Pleasant territory and keeping Panther keeper Michael Alderson on his toes.

But Mount Pleasant pushed back, and the Trojans found themselves down 1-0 following a goal by Panther Anh Le at the nine-minute mark.

Sloat scored off an assist from Bachar at the 13-minute mark to tie the game at 1-all, but Mount Pleasant and Bo Vitale answered right back less than 20 seconds later with a second goal.

The Trojans came close to scoring the tying goal midway through the first half. Sloat just missed his second score with a shot skimming above the goal post at the 19-minute mark, and Darrin Dimmitt?s shot at the 23-mark smacked the top of the post.

Mount Pleasant scored its third and final goal with 12:29 remaining in the first half to take a 3-1 advantage into halftime.

Sloat?s second goal came midway through the second half, at the 17-minute mark, on an assist from Mickels.

Fairfield had a chance to put in a penalty kick in the final minutes but came up empty, and the team?s last-ditch attempts weren?t enough as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

?We came out firing in the second half and we had so many chances,? said Guezimane. ?But like I keep telling my players, we can dominate the game, but if you don?t score we don?t win the game.?