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Falcons fall at home

Donoho loses to Collinsville 5-2 in a game it needed to win by 2, will travel for first round of the playoffs

Donoho soccer coach Matthew Wright tells his team at halftime it's OK to be a little more aggressive in the second half of their game with Collinsville.

Donoho soccer coach Matthew Wright tells his team at halftime it’s OK to be a little more aggressive in the second half of their game with Collinsville.

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

The Donoho Falcons knew the score. If they wanted to win their area and host their first home soccer playoff game in 16 years they had to win by two goals.

It was a little different for a team that professes to be a “controlled defensive” team, but the Falcons were aggressive early. Still, the plan left their defenders a little more exposed.

They had chances early but couldn’t convert and that proved unfortunate as Collinsville began finding openings and scored a 5-2 victory that gave the Panthers the area crown.

Mitchell Baker, who has scored more than 100 goals in his Donoho career, scored both of the Falcons’ goals.

The Falcons (12-2-1) are still in the playoffs, but now they have to travel to Altamont Tuesday for their first-round game. Both of their losses this season have come to Collinsville.

“We’re a little disappointed with the outcome,” Donoho coach Matthew Wright said. “We needed to score in the first 20 minutes. We had the run of play in the first 20 minutes of the game and we just couldn’t produce a goal.

“That’s kind of what happens. We made a few mistakes and good teams make you pay for your mistakes. When you have to push your guys up to get goals then good teams will make you pay. That’s how we got behind.”

The Falcons had a couple good chances early and had they scored it may have impacted the outcome. Charles Love sent two headers on goals and Mitchell Baker flipped a shot over the crossbar. The closest they came to scoring was a near own-goal when Collinsville’s Diego Ramirez headed a ball beyond his keeper’s reach and it just tricked wide of an open net.

“We played really well, we just couldn’t get any offense going,” Baker said. “We had plenty of shots, just couldn’t get any to go in.”

“We were playing as good a soccer the first 20 minutes as we’ve played all year,” Wright said. “We played real defensive the first time we played them (a 1-0 loss), but we took a few more risks in this year. We knew we … couldn’t lay back and lose by one or win by one, so we played a lot more offensive.”

The Panthers started finding openings in the second part of the half. breaking through late in the half. Bryan Barrientos fired a shot to the right post Donoho keeper Chandler Collins just cleared away and defender Yash Patel cleared a ball from the crease near the right post.

Collinsville scored twice in the final seven minutes of the half. Johnathan Segura opened the scoring when he crashed through and into Collins on a free kick after Donoho corrected the officials on the spot of a foul. The Panthers scored with just about three minutes left in the half when Isaiah Avilla redirected a rebound off the cross past Collins.

At halftime Wright implored his players to be aggressive in the second half and they finally got on the board on Barrientos scored on a semi-breakaway.

Leo Barrientos’ header of a cornerkick made it 4-1 with 26:21 to play. Bryan Barrientos made it 5-1 on a shot from midfield that found the back of the net when Collins slid going back for it.

Baker made nice move splitting the defense and scored the Falcons’ second goal with 10:36 to play.

Donoho's Mitchell Baker splits the Collinsville defense during a run in the first half. On the cover, Baker goes way up to play a ball in the air.

Donoho’s Mitchell Baker splits the Collinsville defense during a run in the first half. On the cover, Baker goes way up to play a ball in the air.

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