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DALLAS TWP. — On a frigid, windy Tuesday night at Dallas High School, the Tunkhannock Tigers fell just short to the visiting Cocalico Eagles 3-2 in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A state soccer playoffs.
With the heartbreaking defeat, Tunkhannock, which went on a magical ride that saw the Tigers make history winning the District 2 3A championship by beating Dallas 1-0 in the semifinals and North Pocono 2-1 overtime thriller in the finals, had its season end
Cocalico, which lost in the District 3 Class 3A championship game to defending champion Hershey last week, got a new lease on life. The Eagles will play District 1 runner-up Phoenixville in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
In the first half of play, Cocalico lit the lamp first with 15:10 left before the break when midfielder Matt Laudenslager scored, assisted by fellow senior Edison Vue. The Eagles took the 1-0 lead into halftime.
However in the second half, Tunkhannock’s offense came out on fire as senior captain Shane Macko scored the game-tying goal to knot everything up at 1-1 just 90 seconds into the period. Then just about 10 minutes later, Macko found the back of the net for the second time of the night, giving his Tigers squad their first lead of the contest 2-1 with 28:25 remaining in regulation.
Just when it looked like the Eagles were cooked for the night with a little more than 11 minutes left, Cocalico saved its season with a fast and furious comeback with a flurry of two quick goals to give them back the lead.
The first goal came with 11:28 left in the half, when speedy senior forward Shamanuel Dominique knotted things up at 2-2. The final score of the game came shortly after with only 10:14 left in the match, when junior midfielder Luke Main scored from far away on a wacky moving goal that left the Tigers stunned and frozen.
“I think a lot of it is belief,” Cocalico coach Derek Sipe said. “Tunkhannock did a great job after being down in the first half by a goal and having that belief and creating opportunities to score those two quick goals to take the lead, and we were fortunate enough to be able to do the same thing.
“We were starting to get to the point where it was getting late in the game. We have a lot of guys who can score and we just knew we needed a couple of moments. We knew some were going to come, we just needed to keep the belief, and keep going and keep pushing forward. We knew they were going to happen, we just had to finish them and we did.”
Meanwhile, Tunkhannock’s coach Sante Romaldini was very appreciative on his squad’s magical ride this season even after the gut-wrenching late game defeat to end their year in the state playoffs.
“This was a season I couldn’t have asked for anything better. We had a very tough schedule going into it, the boys wanted every single game, and played to the very end,” Romaldini said. “This is a team that never gives up, it was a great group of boys. I’ll never forget this group of boys that we had.
“The nine seniors we had, a great goal scorer in four-year starter Shane Macko, and definitely bringing a district championship back to Tunkhannock for the first time in nine years.”