The Ann Arbor Skyline boy’s soccer team’s season came to an end on Wednesday, October 16th as they fell to the Brighton Bulldogs in a 2-0 game. After a thrilling first round 1-0 victory over cross-town rival Ann Arbor Pioneer, the Eagles were flying high and anxious for their district semi-final match up against the Brighton Bulldogs.

As the defending Division I state champions, the eagles had high hopes for this year’s playoff run. Just like last year’s team, the Eagle’s were lead by their seniors. The 2014 team had 16 returners, 15 of which were seniors. “We were a really old team last year. This year we carry over a lot of experience,” senior captain Moustafa El-Kashlan said. Senior leadership was key as the Eagles fought adversity this year.

The Eagles’ do not play an aggressive style of play and their biggest struggle has been scoring.“We always out possess teams and then struggle in the final third,” El-Kashlan said. Last year the Eagles were lead by Junior Alec Lasinksi, who is now absent from the Skyline roster and playing for an academy team. In 2013, Lasinski averaged over a goal a game and received the Mr Soccer award as the best high school player in Michigan. This year the team together averaged less than a goal a game.

Regardless of the circumstances and their struggle to put the ball in the net, the Eagles were ready to make another playoff run this postseason. “I think we’re definitely more of underdogs this year. Expectations are a little lower, which I like a little better. We’ve got something to prove,” senior Peter Brody-Moore said.

Going into playoffs and even more so after their victory over Pioneer, the Eagles were ready to push forward. “We’ve gotten a little hungrier over the past week. We’re starting to want to work a little harder,” Brody-Moore said.

Unfortunately, the Eagles’ postseason hopes were struck down by Brighton. The mistakes that they made throughout the season ended up being the ones that cost them their season. The Eagles did not quite know what they would be facing with Brighton. The Bulldogs had a mixed record that made it hard to judge their quality. The Bulldogs had lost to Huron, who Skyline had beaten, but had also beaten Saline, who were the eventual District Champions. “We didn’t know exactly what to expect. We knew their players but we didn’t know their skill level,” senior Max Mihaylov said.

The Eagles got off to a shaky start and it was too late by the time they settled into their game. In the first half, the Bulldogs pressured hard. They won every 50-50 ball, and gave the Eagles little to work with. “I don’t think we came in over confident, but we weren’t ready for them to come out the way they did,” Mihaylov said.

The Eagles couldn’t settle into their game, and it cost them a goal a little over halfway into the first half. With a few steps on his defender, the Brighton forward scored far post on a shot Mihaylov said senior goaltender Matteo Althoen “had saved in practice a million times.” The Eagles started to wake up after that, but their momentum was cut off at halftime.

Again in the second half, the Eagles started off slow and allowed Brighton to control the tempo of the game. As a result, the Eagles gave up another goal, this time off of an unlucky bounce from a free kick. After the second goal, desperation kicked in for the Eagles. “That goal was devastating, but we still didn’t lose any hope,” Mihaylov said. After that, the Eagles started playing like they had nothing to lose. They played with desperation, and gave themselves more than enough chances to put themselves back in the game.

Mihaylov rocketed a shot from outside the box. Miraculously, the Brighton goalkeeper deflected the ball just enough to hit the crossbar. El-Kashlan had two scoring chances from inside the box that he missed wide as well. “We just couldn’t score. That was our Achilles heel all season. We just couldn’t score goals. We threw everything we could at them and it just wasn’t meant to be that night,” Mihaylov said.

For the seniors, the loss was heartbreaking. For many of them, including Mihaylov, it was the first time they had lost a high school playoff game. “I didn’t think it’d be this awful but any time I start thinking about it, that it’ll be the last time I step on the field as a Skyline Soccer player, it really hurts,” Mihaylov said. “Considering how far we went last year, it’s really just an awful feeling…and I guess time heals all wounds but currently it’s still a pretty awful wound.”

The Eagles were stunned after the game. The players stared blankly through their opponents as they shook hands, many of them still gazing towards the scoreboard. “We just didn’t know how to react,” said Mihaylov.

But as they huddled around each other on the sideline for the last time, their composure started to unfold. “I just didn’t know what to feel honestly,” Mihaylov said. “Then one of my teammates started to cry, and the floodgates opened.”