Dallas, PA — As the ball rolled toward the crisp, white end lines of Mangseldorf Field, junior Chris Nygren lined up a savior from the right corner
He swung a low cross to the box and senior Niall Croke told striker Danny Hernandez to “leave it.” They constantly joke in practice about Hernandez coming to take away Croke’s goals on crosses. Not this time. Not on Tuesday night.
Croke left his feet and pushed his head towards the net, whipping it slightly to his left. Then, came pay-dirt in the 75th.
“A Monach til’ I die, A Monarch til’ I die, I think I am, I know I am, a Monarch til’ I die,” the crowd roared.
Misericordia had become home-field advantage for the Monarch fans and for the soccer team, Croke had lifted them to another chance at a championship.
“Misericordia is always a hard game and losing to them in the regular season was really tough,” Croke said post-game, his grandparents pulling him to grab a kiss on his cheek.
“We got out there, did our thing and everyone worked hard today. We have to go back and try to win a championship. Last year wasn’t a fluke. We are trying to repeat.”
The Monarchs got on board first in the eighth minute when senior David Stroh took a deflected ball from the goalkeeper and blasted it past Cougar defenders for a strike. Misericordia tied it in the 51st minute when a Chris Panagacos strike found the net underneath sophomore Tyler Wilson.
After Croke, Stroh scored his second goal in the 85th minute, assisted by Nygren, off another corner kick. But it was some hidden motivation that assisted the Monarchs away from home.
In their third meeting with the Cougars in the semifinals of the Freedom Conference Playoffs, they’ve lost two of their three trips. This time was about confidence and coach Mark Bassett made sure his troops understood that they belonged in their position.
“It was a planned one, one I was holding out for the entire season,” Bassett joked postgame. “It had a lot to do with being great and performing at that level…The big thing with us and Misericordia is that they play differently than we do…two of the three goals was on countering quickly.”
The championship is slowly spiriting to it’s climax, with King’s meeting No. 1 seeded Eastern in the championship game outside of Philadelphia on Saturday, the winner getting a coveted berth to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.
But the path back to the title game didn’t come overnight. It was a dedicated group of upperclassmen that led the charge. Four months and 14 wins later, King’s could still be the top-dog of the conference.
Bassett said if the Monarchs wanted to win this championship, they would have to take. With one game between them and hardware, his boys are more prepared than ever.
“We are not done yet,” Bassett said. “Eastern is very, very good and they put a’hurting on FDU today. It’s going to be a test. We are similar teams and play similarly. We have to earn it. Last year we were good enough to do it. This year we have to go win it.”