By P.J. Harmer
DELHI _ Tested continually, Delhi's defense finally broke in the second half.
Greene scored three times after halftime en route to a 3-0 victory over the reigning Section Four Class C boys soccer champions in a semifinal at Delhi on Wednesday.
The third-seeded Trojans (16-1-1) beat the No. 2 Bulldogs (15-3) for the third time this season.
"They are tough," Delhi junior sweeper Jason Little said. "They pass extremely well and it's just difficult to contain. They are fast. We held them well the first half. The second half we got tired and they took advantage of it."
Delhi won its first sectional title last season, beating Marathon, 1-0, in the final. The Bulldogs then lost a state quarterfinal game to Fabius-Pompey, 2-1.
Greene, which beat Delhi, 2-0, in the Midstate Athletic Conference championship Oct. 22, will attempt to make it two straight MAC teams to win a sectional title when it meets top-seeded Marathon (14-2) at 11:15 a.m. Saturday at the National Soccer Hall of Fame fields. Marathon beat fourth-seeded Spencer-Van Etten, 4-1.
"It's always a disappointment to lose when you are in sectionals," Delhi coach Brian Rolfe said. "Overall, I'm real happy with how our season played out. We lost to one team.
"I'm disappointed, but at the same time, looking back we did pretty well," he continued. "Give credit to Greene. They are a pretty good team and I hope they can keep it in the MAC."
After a first half when the Trojans had a 12-2 advantage in shots, Greene broke through with 36 minutes, 13 seconds remaining.
Ryan Ludwig had the ball on the right side just outside the penalty box and shot from about 20 yards on a sharp angle. Delhi goalie Pat Cobane made the initial save on the hard shot, but the ball bounced away toward the left side of the goal.
Two players had a chance at it _ Greene's Ethan Buhl and Delhi's Stefan Segelken. Buhl barely won the race, sliding in and catching the ball well enough to send it ahead into the left side of the goal for a 1-0 lead.
"I was pretty much just following the play," Buhl said. "I just tried to get to it. There was a defender in front of me and I just extended my leg. ... I slid at it and once I hit it, I knew I had a goal. I just turned around and pretty much went, and celebrated with my team because I knew it was in."
Though Delhi had more chances in the second than the first, the Bulldogs couldn't sustain an extended run in the offensive end.
Cobane made a big save with 20:01 remaining on Curtis Richards' header from 12 yards. With 14:03 remaining, Ludwig got loose on the left side and sent a shot from 25 yards that clanged off the crossbar.
Rolfe gambled with 13:40 remaining, sending freshman Collin Roche to replace Cobane, who moved to forward.
"We need field players when we're down," Rolfe said. "He's a good goalie, but when we're struggling on offense, he's a pretty good field player and he can run a long time. He's got decent skills and gives us a little energy boost. If we were tied, we wouldn't have done that. But we were down 1, so it's what we went with."
Less than a minute later, Greene went up, 2-0.
Evan Moxley had a long throw-in from the left side into the box and the ball bounced to Eli Marks, who kicked it into the middle of the goal. Roche had been guarding the right side.
"It was nice to get the first goal, but the second goal is always the insurance one for me," Greene coach Rick Tallman said. "It was a little bit of a relief to have that insurance goal."
The Trojans closed the scoring with 1:21 remaining. Ludwig sent a ball into the box from the right side into a group of players. Alex Driscoll then headed it in from about 10 yards to make it 3-0.
"It hurts, but I'm happy," Little said. "We didn't expect to go this far with the team we had this year compared to last year. The expectations weren't as high. I'm really pleased. A lot of our younger players stepped up and took care of a lot. We did really well."
Greene 3, Delhi 0
SECTION FOUR CLASS C
Semifinal
Greene0 3 _ 3
Delhi0 0 _ 0
3-Greene (16-1-1): Ethan Buhl 1-0, Eli Marks 1-0, Evan Moxley 0-1, Alex Driscoll 1-0, Ryan Ludwig 0-1.
2-Delhi (15-3): None.
Shots-corner kicks: G 26-4; D 6-1.
Goalies: Corey Dietrich (G) 2; Pat Cobane (D) 9, Collin Roche 2.
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P.J. Harmer can be reached at pharmer@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 229.
