The Mineola Yellowjackets soccer team fell to the Cumberland Academy Knights, 1-0, last Thursday at Meredith Memorial Stadium. 

The result will be doubly disappointing for the team, as the Jackets outplayed Cumberland during long stretches of the match and generated several excellent scoring opportunities.  

Mineola was on the attack for the first 25 minutes of play. The midfield played on the front foot to begin the match, and, as a result, shot opportunities were forthcoming. 

Brayan Torres had the first scoring opportunity, which was in the 4th minute. His attempt was saved. In the 10th minute, Heriberto Lucas teamed with Andres Martinez and Carson Sullivan and generated an attack up the right side. Carson stopped his run, broke to the middle and sent an accurate left-footed shot on goal. It, too, was saved.  

The ever-active Lucas combined with Eduardo Zavala to break free from the midfield and register another excellent attempt in the 28th minute. The shot went just wide.

Someone collided into Torres during a breakaway, and he was awarded a free kick in front. His attempt sailed high. 

And so it went, attack after attack, but the Jackets remained unrewarded with a goal.

Cumberland managed to turn the momentum in the final 15 minutes of the first half.  Mineola warded off each attack, with Johnny Rocha being sound, in goal, for the home side.

In the final minute of the half, freshman Cristian Ledesma twice broke free and put well-struck shots on goal. Unfortunately, the trajectory of both shots was directly at the Cumberland goalkeeper. 

The team had logged an excellent half of soccer, but had not moved the scoreline. 

The Jackets redoubled their efforts to begin the second half. 

In the 50th minute, David Delapaz stroked a narrow-angled shot with such velocity that it actually knocked the Cumberland goalkeeper backward off his feet; and yet, the ball careened away.

While Mineola continued to make runs, the number of clean chances diminished as the game ground on. A handful of times, the ball was loose in the box, but Mineola players simply could not get clean contact in front of the goal.

On a night when the Jacket defense was near perfect, it was two ill-timed attempts to sweep away a ball from a Cumberland attacker that led to the only goal. That came in the 76th minute.

The Jackets rallied to apply immense pressure in the final stages to level the game. 

Possibly the best opportunity came in the final minute of play, when Lucas took a free kick from 45 meters out. His kick found the turf just in front of the goal, where a mass of bodies waited. The ball was headed, but the attempt went high and bounced off the football goalpost back into the top of the netting.

The sequence was so fast and congested that the motion of the net communicated to the home side that a goal had been scored. That was not the case. 

The final whistle sounded. Cumberland had stolen the win.