They were so incredibly close; but in the end, so far.

After an incredible ride through the state tournament that saw the CHS Boy’s Soccer team take a thrilling 1-0 lead in the first few minutes of the NJ Group 2 State Championship game, the Pirates eventually fell victim to the counter-attack of Hackettstown in a devastating 3-1 loss on Sunday night at Kean University.

However, most would agree that the score did not reflect the play of the game.

A 3-1 loss was certainty not the outcome the Pirates thought, or hoped, would happen; especially with a quick goal by Mark Staudenmayer in the fourth minute of the game.

Scoring first is always an advantage. But the 1-0 lead wasn’t enough to damper Hackettstown’s players. They responded with a goal five minutes later to tie the game. Despite the goal, senior Mark Staudenmayer believes the Pirates still “dominated the first half.”

Junior Pat McCarthy believes the game turned “when Hackettstown scored their second goal. We lost our momentum after that,” they claim.  Hackettstown punched in the game winner in the 73rd minute of the game to take a 2-1 lead that eventually grew to 3-1 after the Pirates pressed forward, searching for the equalizing goal.

Head Coach Jay Meile believes “the last 15 minutes was when the game changed.” He goes on to say, “all season we’ve had a problem of pressing the back line when we can’t get the ball in the back of the net. Eventually, they caught us. They caught up pushed up and forced a one-on-one situation.”

The Tigers’ Josh Weiss scored his 25th goal of the season late in the second half. With only 6:30 remaining in regulation time, McCarthy and the rest of the team knew they “had to score fast.”

Once the third goal from the Tigers, McCarthy explained that they “kind of knew it was over.” The CHS boys simply ran out of time.

Hackettstown goalie, Kyle Palomino, walked away with 13 saves. The Pirates had numerous attempts to get the ball into the net but Palomino eliminated their chances.

Cinnaminson sophomore goalie, Mike Deal, walked away with three saves and three goals given up to the 23-1-1 Tigers.  With the loss, the Pirates ended the season 19-5-2 .

Meile told the team after their heart-racing 2-1 state semifinal win over Governor Livingston that “their goal was not to make it to the state championship game, but to win it.” Obviously, the further a team goes, the harder a loss feels. The Pirates couldn’t believe they were so close, both in a good and bad way.

Senior Nick Patel sums up his feelings about being so close to their goal by saying “I’m happy we made it this far, considering we haven’t since 2007. I don’t want to remember losing the state championship game. I’d rather remember it as winning the Sectional Championship and making it to the State Championship game.

Coach Meile describes it as “an incomplete feeling.” He explains that “we were already talking about what we thought we were capable of at the end of spring sports last year. We knew we could be in that game so we’re proud but there is that incomplete feeling.

 News Editor Michael Zelinka also contributed to the article.