Berkmar Soccer Winning Streak Hits Seven Games

Hundreds of fans witnessed the Berkmar Patriots (14-1-1) defeat rival Meadowcreek (7-8-0) by a score of 2-0 in a boys soccer game Wednesday night in Norcross.

It was the seventh straight win for the Patriots, who can win the Region 8-AAAAA title next week against Dacula.

Berkmar opened up the scoring with a remarkable goal with 29 minutes left in the first half.

Patriot’s Luis Rodriguez took a curling shot from outside the box as he was falling from a defender’s push. The ball curled to the keeper’s right-hand side, over the fingertips of the outstretched keeper, and hit the top post and rattled inside the goal.

Berkmar led 1-0 and the Patriot fans went crazy. Drums, vuvuzelas, trumpets and guitars were heard all night long from both sides of fans.

Later, the Patriots’ Fredrico DeAranburu had a nice run down the right side of the field past two defenders. DeAranburu’s cross was then blocked by the keeper. The rebound was recovered by Berkmar’s Juan Carlos Diaz, whose shot was also blocked by the Meadowcreek keeper.

 The closest shot Meadowcreek had on goal was caused by a heading error by Berkmar’s Kwadwo Twumasi. The ball skipped off his head the wrong way, causing the goalie and the Meadowcreek offense to race for the ball in midair. Berkmar’s keeper Juan Carlos Lopez missed the punch as the Meadowcreek attacker headed the ball toward the empty net. Fortunately for the Patriots, Andy Rubalcava covered the goal and cleared it away from danger

Although Meadowcreek had few on-target shots, the play was pretty even between the two teams. The only thing separating the two at halftime was the amazing goal by Rodriguez. The half ended with the Patriots barely hanging to a 1-0 lead.

“We weren’t worried too much after the first half," Berkmar’s Ernesto Cardenas said. "We were dominating possession and we knew all we had to do was keep doing that and the chances could come.”

Martin Lugo had a chance to score and assist early in the second half for Berkmar. Four minutes into the second half his cross to Ernesto Cardenas would have been an easy goal attempt was it not narrowly intercepted by the Meadowcreek defense. A minute later, coming off the left hand side of the field, Lugo took a shot with the defender clinging to his shirt but the ball went wide across the goal and out.

Rene Acosta missed clear chances to assist to teammates, choosing to take shots on his own. Twice he passed on opportunities to pass to an open Oscar Lievano. Lievano was terrorizing the Meadowcreek defense with his hard tackles, effort, pace and ability to find open spaces.

Jonathon Caballero, the second-half goalkeeper for Berkmar, blocked a powerful free kick by Meadowcreek with seven minutes left. The Patriot defense was caught off guard when Meadowcreek quickly took a free kick from midfield that would have been headed in if Caballero had not been alert and able to snatch the ball in midair.

Meadowcreek was knocking on the door and could have easily tied the game. Berkmar dominated possession but was unable to put away the Mustangs for good.  Unfortunately for the Mustangs, Meadowcreek closed the door on themselves with five minutes left in the game.

Meadowcreek’s keeper received a back pass from a teammate. Unable to pick it up, he tried to adjust the ball with his feet to send it off. As he did so, Aaron Aguirre of Berkmar rushed him to make the kick difficult. The keeper faked a shot but Aguirre recognized the kick for a fake and went straight at the keeper. Aguirre kicked the ball away and the keeper fell and tripped him as he scrambled to get the ball. The referee gave Berkmar a penalty shot.

Berkmar’s Cardenas lined up for the shot and put the game away with a well-placed penalty kick.

“I felt that it put the game out of reach,” Cardenas said of the penalty kick.

He continued, “That was definitely the biggest crowd any of us have ever played for. So it was an awesome feeling to score and see all of those people cheering.”

The battle on the field was accompanied by a battle off the field with both sides of fans loudly vocalizing their loyalty to their teams. It was a beautiful sight to see so many students and parents come out to support a group of kids doing something positive in their communities.

Berkmar’s senior night game will be played at home against Dacula at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 19. Berkmar will be crowned region champion with a win against Dacula.

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