The action in the first half favored Cape but no goals were scored against a talented Milford squad, then as the seconds ticked away, Dan Steele lifted a pass from out front and the head of Aaron Gehrt rose up to meet the ball and knock it into the back of the net as time expired for a 1-0 Viking lead at halftime.
The emotional Gehrt sprinted toward the bench, his arms raised in celebration. Coach Jay Hayes said, “It was the prettiest goal of the season.”
The season ended on this night when the Vikings honored 10 seniors with a 3-1 victory, a 9-6 record and most likely no berth in the state tournament. Given the number of talented players on the squad and at least five close losses, everyone seemed happy with the win but slightly disappointed that certain winnable games had slipped away.
“We lost to Seaford 1-0 and they were conference champs,” Gehrt said. “And a 1-0 loss at Smyrna never should have happened. Just a few breaks and we would have been a tournament team.”
Cape scored in the second half on goals by Marco Ramirez from Aaron Tartal at 55:00 and Gehrt unassisted at 60.00.
Hayes put all his seniors in the game with a 3-0 lead when the Bucs Rossiny Beaucejour rocketed a far post goal past frozen goalie John Deming in minute 81 bringing the score to 3-1. After the game Deming jokingly said that he was “available for interviews.”
Cape outshot the Bucs in the game 20-12 while Andrew Scructhfield was credited with nine saves. Kane Rothermel has 12 saves for Milford. The Bucs finished 6-7-2 on the season.
Cape seniors honored before the game were Valeriano Canastui, John Deming, Andrew McMahon, Connor Jones, John Young, Dominic Prestipino, Dan Steele, Chris Woodruff, Aaron Tartal and Artur Martins.
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