Missouri Military Academy soccer was one strike away Tuesday night but couldn’t do much striking.

MMA’s season came to an end in the Class 1 District 4 Tournament semifinals in Westphalia after a 2-1 loss to No. 2 seed and state No. 5 St. Francis Borgia. The No. 3 Colonels (9-6-2) were eliminated by the district champion Knights last year in districts by a 5-0 decision but stayed within striking distance this year despite Borgia (11-9) outshooting MMA 26-6 and 14-5 in the shots on goal. Senior captain Marco Afane made one of MMA’s two second-half shots count with a goal in the 51st minute to end a three-year scoreless postseason drought.

MMA falls to state-ranked Borgia in semis

Head coach Elliot Goodwin said his players fought hard all game to preserve the chance for victory as Borgia could have widened their lead without the efforts of goalkeeper Diego Pineda, who finished with 12 saves, and his defense led by active play from Ethan Hersh and Gaston Gastelum.

“I think the whole squad stepped up and fought for 80 minutes of that entire game,” Goodwin said. “We overcame difficult moments, which is what we needed to do. Really, that’s what I asked them to do. I asked them to step up in a semifinal game.”

Through one half, Borgia and MMA were equal with three shots on goal each, but the Knights had way more scoring opportunities. Several of Borgia’s shots sailed over the crossbar to total an 11-4 total shot advantage after 40 minutes.
Borgia came out firing in the second half as its shots were on target from the opening minute as Pineda stood his ground and batted away the first four attempts before Peyton Grannemann knocked one past him in the 51st minute.

“In one-v-one battles, (Borgia) was very good,” Goodwin said. “They were very committed in the center of the field. They defended very well, they were compact, they made it difficult for us to even connect passes and they got a number of shots on goal.

“It was outstanding play from Diego Pineda in goal tonight. He made some incredible saves there. That scoreline could have been four or five easily if he wasn’t on his game, but he brought it tonight. Not only him, but I’m sure he would praise the whole defensive unit there as well.”

Even though the ball hadn’t spent much time in Borgia territory, MMA had a promising possession six minutes following the Grannemann goal. On the right side, Afane made a turnaround move before burying the game-tying goal into the left corner of the net on what was the Colonels’ first shot in the second half.

Goodwin said MMA made some adjustments at halftime to counter Borgia’s middle-centric approach, and Afane was able to reap the benefits in what was his final game in a Colonels uniform. Before Afane was even at MMA, the Colonels won a district title in 2018 during a postseason run where they scored 18 goals. In the three postseasons following that year, MMA has been shutout in three consecutive first-game exits.

“I figured that in the first half, everything was being played through the middle,” Goodwin said. “We tried to open up the field a little bit, changing the formation and playing with wing-backs, which allowed us to get a little bit higher. That’s actually where the goal came from. Our guy bombing on down the right side played a good ball in to Afane, who first-time finished. We actually worked on that yesterday (Monday) in training as well. That’s his last game as well, unfortunately, so a nice way to end for him.”

In the 71st minute, Borgia was awarded afree kick that initially didn’t cut through the MMA defense but then Hunter Reinberg slid to push the ball past Pineda to give Borgia a 2-1 lead. The Colonels had one more shot to tie the game on a booming kick that made a loud thud against the Borgia goalkeeper.

Time ran out on a season where MMA won its most games since its 15 wins in 2018. The Colonels had 10 total wins the previous two years, which reinforced the message Goodwin gave after the loss, pointing to the progress the team made from a season ago.

“What a year’s it’s been — so much growth that we had from last year and even previous years in the school’s history where we’ve been a little down on scores and results,” Goodwin said. “Credit to every single player. We train every day, and we make it fun and make sure it’s a learning experience for them.”

MMA won’t have its nine seniors next season, including key scorers this year like Gorka Yarte, Lucas Almeida and Kellan Mugisha along with Tuesday’s key performers such as Afane and Hersh.

“For every senior, it was the last game. They’ve worn that jersey proud for as many years as they’ve been at this school,” Goodwin said. “That’s the main goal or the main task. We ask them to play with their heart and play with honor, which they did tonight and they’ve done all year.”